Curse of the Teenage Pirate
by Jacquelina-Comm
Summary: Another girl-falls-into-Curse of the Black Pearl story. I like those.   Laverne Audrium falls into Curse of the Black Pearl, and finds that she is cursed as well, but not in the same way that Barbosa is. No romance between Jack and Laverne.
1. Laverne Audrium

Disclaimer: I own all characters you don't recognize.

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- Laverne

Hi. My name Laverne Audrium, but people call me Verne, after Jules Verne, my favorite author. I live in Lowdown, California. Seriously. The place is called Lowdown.

And, boy, is it low down. But, fortunately, I don't live there.

My older brother, Tom, and I live out near the lake. Unfortunately, I still have to go to school with the scum who live in the town. That's not to say everyone in the town is scum. There's a very sweet old lady there named Mrs. Adams who I clean house for, but I'm going off topic.

Anyway. School had just gotten out, and I was trying to avoid Luke Terro and his buddies while getting to my self-defense class. I know that was sort of contradictory, but I had only been taking the class for two weeks. Luke was twice my size and had six other guys to back him up. I called him Luke Terror.

I had managed to get half way to the building where Ms. Carter held her self-defense class, when I spotted them up ahead. Luke Terror and three of his cronies were hanging around outside Treeble's General Store, smoking cigarettes and using lots of language that I will not repeat. It was like they were just waiting for some unsuspecting person, like me, to wander by so that they could ambush her.

So, I ducked down an alley.

I had gone around the back of Treeble's, and was just thinking that I was home free, when one of Luke Terror's goons, a nasty guy called Rot, stepped out and grabbed me. Rot was a really ugly fellow, with a face as pock-marked as the moon and a scraggly beard that looked like it housed a flea circus.

I admit it. I panicked, kicking him in a place we don't talk about before running off in the direction that led away from Luke Terror. Now, normally, I'm not much of a runner, but in this case I made an exception. I could hear Luke Terror shouting something and tried to put a bit more energy into my legs, especially when I heard them come after me.

I realized that I was going in totally the wrong direction for Ms. Carter's class, but at that point I didn't much care. I would rather be alive and late, then arrive on time and be beaten to death afterwards. I was beginning to become short of breath, and my lungs felt like they had been thrown on a bonfire. To top it off, I was developing a stitch in my side, and I knew I had to stop soon whether I wanted to or not.

Cutting down into another alley, I stopped short at the sight of a wooden fence blocking my way. Panting like a finisher in the Ironman triathlon, I tried to open the gate, but it had a huge lock hanging from it. However, there were trash cans nearby, so I grabbed one and shuffled it over to stand beside the fence as Luke Terror's voice cut through the air like a knife, calling me things that civilized people do not call each other.

I quickly scrambled up onto the trash can and grabbed the top of the fence. I barely managed to haul myself over the fence just as Luke Terror entered the alley. There was a look of pure hatred on his face as I flopped over the fence to the other side, though I wasn't sure why. After all, it was Rot I had kicked, not him.

There was a puddle directly below me, but I didn't think it was more than an inch deep. Hence, my shock when I hit the water and sunk like a rock below the surface...


	2. Lawrence Martin

- Lawrence.

Good day. My name is Lawrence Martin. I live in Port Royal, near the estate of Governor Swann. Although I am a baker's apprentice, I'm ashamed to say I often shirk that duty to fish on the docks with my friend, Isaac, a slave boy to the local docking clerk.

Today, I was fishing alone, since Isaac had to attend to his master. It was then that I saw a young woman suddenly burst out of the water like a mermaid or other mythical sea creature. She had long, red hair that fanned out behind her as she tread water, and her face was... handsome. She was certainly not a beauty, but her face, which others might go so far as to consider homely, had a certain appeal to it.

"What the...?"She, I assume it was the girl, exclaimed. She had look of panic on her face, and her strength was obviously waning, which snapped me out of my revelry, and I dove into the water, though I fear it was more of a flop.

Reaching the girl, I grasped her around the waist, though it embarrassed me greatly. By now, her face was barely above the surface of the water, and I managed to tow her back to the dock, just as a booted foot stepped onto it, barely missing my hand. The owner of the boot, a sneaky-looking fellow with a red bandanna and bangles in his hair, continued walking, having apparently failed to see me, and I hauled my red-haired catch up onto the dry planks. I could see Isaac standing beside his master as the dock clerk talked with the boot-man, but I paid no attention because the girl was waking up.

"Where am I?" She gasped, pushing herself onto her elbows. I was greatly embarrassed by her shirt, which clung to her body and was nearly transparent, but I set that aside as I answered her question.

"Port Royal? Where's that?" She asked, appearing quite confused. I was confused as well. How could she not know where she was when she had fallen into the water not ten yards from the dock? Perhaps she suffered a blow to the head, causing her to lose her memories?

"Port Royal is a colony under His Majesty, King George II." I informed her, aiding her in her attempt to stand.

"Colony?"

"Indeed. Now, if you will supply me with your name, I will assist you in finding your lodging."

"It's Laverne. Laverne Audrium. But I don't have any lodgings, so don't bother looking for them."

Laverne. I had never met someone with a name like that before. But then, I had never met anyone dressed as she was, either. Removing my overcoat, I put it around her shoulders to hide her shirt, which was still quite indecent.

"Well, Miss Audrium, I will assist you in any way I can." I said. "Why were you in the water? And in such strange clothes?"

"It's a long story." Miss Audrium said, putting on my overcoat and buttoning it up. It was quite obvious that she was not going to tell me how she had gotten here, and I wondered if she had perhaps stowed away on a ship. The _**Nemo**_ had been quite close by, and it would easily explain her lack of knowledge as to her whereabouts.

"Perhaps you should come with me, Miss Audrium." I said, placing my hand gently on her back to lead her down the dock. It was strange, but throughout the conversation, I had been feeling inexplicably weak and short of breath, as if I had been the one who was drowning, instead of Miss Audrium.


	3. Meeting Will and Jack

- Laverne.

I allowed the strange young man to lead me down the street. Unfortunately, my shirt was never meant to get wet, and had become slightly see-through after my unexpected swim, but my friend had genteelly given me his jacket to cover it up. The boy (he was only one, maybe two, years older than me), wasn't bad looking but would never become popular in Lowdown High School on looks alone. He had neatly brushed, brown hair and his slightly sun-tanned face was square-jawed, but still pleasant-looking. He wore 18th-century clothing, minus the jacket he gave me, and his shoe buckles clicked as we walked along the dock.

I had been slightly panicked before, but now I was staring around me like a tourist in Italy. I figured I had either stepped into the most intricate historical reenactment I had ever seen, or I had actually stepped into history. Little did I know where I actually was.

"What's your name?" I asked my escort, and he startled guiltily. He had been staring steadily ahead, but I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. Probably wondering what the heck who he could dump me on.

"Lawrence Martin." He turned to look at me, and blushed. I realized that my clothes were getting stares from the other people we passed. Normally, I wouldn't have cared, but when my clothes make men blush, I make a point to change them.

"I don't suppose there's a place where I can get some new clothes?" I asked, and Lawrence (I tried calling him Larry, but he just looked so much like a Lawrence that I couldn't do it), looked relieved. The poor guy looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up, he was so embarrassed.

He led me into a small shop that looked like a bakery. Another boy who looked a few years younger than Lawrence was behind the counter, and he gave my rescuer a you're-a-dead-man smirk.

"Lawrence, Mr. Somber wants you in the back room." He said. I didn't like the way he was looking at me, and glared fiercely at him.

"All right. Thank you Daniel." Lawrence said, then disappeared through a back door. A few minutes later, a blond woman of about my age and height entered through that same door.

"Laverne Audrium?" She asked, as if thinking she got my name wrong. When I nodded, she took a more professional stance. "I'm Emily Somber. Lawrence told me that you are in desperate need of some decent clothing?"

I nodded, and Emily led me into another back room, where she gave me one of her dresses to try on. It was a floor-length, mauve gown with a lot more undergarments than I'm used to, though I absolutely refused to wear a corset. It fit surprisingly well, and Emily let me keep it. This last part didn't surprise me in the least, since she had tossed all my old clothes while I was changing. Luckily, I didn't have anything irreplaceable in there, or I would have been seriously miffed.

Let me tell you, that dress was the uncomfortable thing I had ever worn. Maybe it was all the underclothes, or maybe it was because it was so heavy compared to modern dresses, but I was sweating like a hog and the high-heeled shoes Emily made me wear certainly did not help. I was terrified that I was going to twist an ankle with every step I took.

Looking out the window, I did a double-take as a familiar figure hurried past the window. blue, wool jacket; dreadlocks and bangles, and a red bandanna. A pair of metal shackles bound his wrists.

Jack Sparrow.

I hurried out of the shop and stared at the retreating figure. Even from behind, it was very obviously the drunken pirate from Curse of the Black Pearl. Forgetting Lawrence, I hoisted up my petticoats and ran as fast as my high-heels would allow me. Only, I didn't follow Jack. No, I figured if I had fallen into Curse of the Black Pearl, then I would find every-body's favorite pirate at the local blacksmith.

When I reached the blacksmith, which I recognized from the movie, I ran into Will Turner. Literally. We went down in a tangle arms, legs and petticoats on the hard cobblestones.

"I'm so sorry!" I gasped, trying to extricate myself from the carnivorous heap of fabric that I laughingly called a dress. "I didn't see you there."

"It's all right Miss." Will said, helping me to my feet like a gentleman.

"Thanks." I brushed down my dress, and was suddenly very sorry that it was such a light shade of blue-purple. Every patch of dirt stood out like an ink stain. "I was going to go in there, anyway."

"Really?" Will looked at me with interest, though it wasn't the kind of "interest" that Daniel had shown in me. "May I ask why?"

"I thought I saw someone go in there." I told him truthfully. I just left out who I thought that someone was, since I didn't want to ruin the story.

"You should wait out here." Will said as he pushed open the door. "He may be dangerous."

"Or he might be your master, coming out for a breath of fresh air." I pointed out, but Will just chuckled.

Since I knew that Will would lock the door with his sword to keep Jack from escaping, I followed him inside. The inside of the smithy was gloomy, but I had good night-vision and immediately spotted Jack hiding behind the sacks of dirt he would later use to blind Will. The pirate noticed me staring and his eyes widened.

However, I wanted to see Will and Jack sword-fight (that had always been my favorite part), so I made a "keep quite" gesture to Jack and turned my back on him to study the swords hanging from the mill wheel. I was barely aware that Will was going through his "Right where I left you. Not where I left you." bit until I saw him approach the anvil.

I briefly considered warning him about Jack, but then tossed that idea, since the pirate had already jumped out and tapped Will's hand with his sword.

"You're the one they're hunting. The pirate." Will said, spitting out the word "pirate" so that even a dimwit could tell it was an insult. I quickly moved away from the two men, not wanting to get slashed by a sword for not paying attention.

"You seem somewhat familiar." Jack noted. "Have I threatened you before?"

"He makes it a point to avoid familiarity with pirates." I piped up, and Will gave me an odd look.

"Exactly." He said, turning back to Jack. "What she said."

"Ah. Then it would be a shame to put a black mark on your record." He turned to leave through the back way. "If you'll excuse me..."

Will grabbed a sword and pointed it at Jack. The pirate looked slightly amused, and lifted his own blade.

"Are you sure this is wise, boy?" He asked mockingly. "Crossing blades with a pirate?"

"You threatened Miss Swann."

Jack ran his blade up and down Will's, before admitting with a smirk. "Only a little." He whacked Will's blade and they fought for a second. "You know what you're doing, I'll give you that. Excellent form. Well done." He raised his eyebrows. "But how's your footwork?"

They moved in an almost dance-like circle around each other. "If I move here?" Jack was clearly enjoying himself. "Very good. Now I move again." He was now between Will and the front door. "Ta." He sheathed his sword and ran for the door, but Will sent his own sword flying across the room and into the door's latch, effectively locking it.

I couldn't help but giggle at Jack's attempt to pull the sword out of the door, and the pirate glared at me before turning back to Will. "That is a wonderful trick." He conceded. "Except, once again, you are between me and my way out. And now, you have no weapon." He drew his sword, and Will lunged for the forge, drawing out a red-hot sword. Jack's eyes widened, and the donkey, now scared of hot metal, started walking.

The two of them fought on the mill-wheel while I watched. Jack asked who made the swords, Will told how he practiced with them three times a day, and Jack called Will an eunuch. I realized I was zoning out, and snapped back to reality (if, indeed, this all wasn't a dream), just as Will pinned one of Jack's wrists to the rafters by wrapping his blade in the pirate's chains.

By now, I was getting seriously bored with this. Who knew that watching people sword-fight was more boring in real life than it was on television? Also, I was getting cramps in my feet from wearing these high-heeled shoes. Kicking off the offending footwear, I grabbed Jack, who was hanging upside-down from the rafters, around the waist and pulled. Unfortunately, it worked, and the rum-soaked pirate landed on top of me on the wagon. This also sent Will catapulting into the rafters.

"Well! Wasn't expecting help from you, luv." Jack said, while climbing to his feet.

"Why are you helping him?" Will demanded, from his perch.

"Because sticking his wrist to the ceiling wasn't very fair, my friend." I said. Hey, it sounded better than "You two were taking too long, and I got bored."

"Anyone who allies herself with pirates is no friend of mine." Will said. Jack was inching toward the door, attempting to use our argument as a cover for his escape, but Will swung down to land in front of him. Grabbing the bag of dirt, Jack sprayed it into Will's face. By the time the blacksmith managed to clear his eyes, Jack was pointing his pistol at him.

This surprised me a little. I had thought that my interference might have changed the story around, so that Jack would either escape, or find something else to blind Will with. Instead, the end result had stayed the same, despite my meddling.

My thoughts were broken into by banging on the door. "Move away." Jack ordered Will, but the blacksmith just stepped between him and the door. "Please move?" There was a pleading note in Jack's voice now, but Will still refused. Irritated, Jack pulled back the hammer. "This shot was not meant for you." He ground out, but a second later the poor guy had a bottle broken over his head.

"Ooh." I winced in sympathy. "Brain damage."


	4. Attack on Port Royal

- Lawrence.

When I was finished speaking with Mr. Somber, I returned to the front room, but Miss Audrium was gone. Miss Somber told me that she had given the girl one of her dresses and a pair of her shoes, after which Laverne had run off down the street. I immediately ran out of the shop in search of her. I wasn't certain why I suddenly felt so responsible for this girl, though it was a feeling that I have had since I first saw her rise from the water.

I was some ways down the street, when I felt a sudden pain, as if a heavy object had fallen on me. I cried out in a mixture of pain, surprise and confusion. There had been no blow, no reason at all for the sudden pain, and I was glad that it quickly dissipated, though my body ached where the pain had been. However, that was all forgotten when I saw Laverne being led out of a blacksmith's shop by several soldiers. Her hands were shackled, her clothes were dirty and she was barefoot.

"Miss Audrium!" I called out, and the procession paused to stare at me. I gathered all the courage I could muster, though it was a pitiful amount, I assure you, and strode up to Commodore Norrington. "Commodore, I object to the arrest of my lady friend." I told him, though I was hardly in a position to make demands, being a mere baker's apprentice.

"She aided a known pirate in his attempt to escape." Norrington informed me, his tone as icy as a winter's day. "That makes her guilty as well."

"She has not been acting herself since her head injury." I said, ignoring the indignant stare that Laverne was giving me. "I believe her brain was addled from the blow."

It ashamed me that I was even capable of lying to someone as important as a commodore, but my words were certainly having an effect on him. He ordered Laverne to be released after a firm warning that repeating her behavior would result in hanging. Laverne thanked him politely and moved to stand behind me.

"I suggest you take her home, before she gets into more trouble." Commodore Norrington said, then motioned for the soldiers to continue on to the jailhouse with their remaining prisoner, whom I recognized to be the boot-man.

"Thanks Lawrence." Laverne breathed, and I felt my chest swell with pride. I wasn't sure why her praise was so important to me. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had never had a lady-friend except for Miss Somber.

We stepped into a dress shop, where I bought her a lovely, navy-blue gown, before heading to my lodgings. They were, in actuality, my sister's lodgings, but Amber is employed as a personal maid for Miss Swann and rarely makes use of them. Although it was a mere shack in comparison to many of the other, nearby homes, it had housed Amber and I faithfully for many years now.

Despite my protests, Laverne had refused to wear proper shoes, and had taken a pair of my shoes instead. It was slightly embarrassing, but it was far better than seeing her go around barefoot. Seeing how it was already sundown by the time we reached the house, I led Laverne to Amber's room and bid her good-night. However, as I made my way down to the kitchen (I cannot sleep unless I have eaten something beforehand), the ground shook and something smashed straight through the house.

I turned on my heel and ran back to Laverne's room as another hole exploded in the wall a mere inch from my face, causing my skin to be peppered with cuts. I heard Laverne scream and opened the door to see her standing before the mirror. When she turned to face me, I was forced to cover my own mouth in shock, for her face was riddled with cuts that exactly matched my own, even though the room was untouched. Tentatively, she reached out and pinched my arm painfully, only to yelp right along with me.

Another explosion made us both flinch and we made a mutual agreement to forestall this revelation until we could explore it without fear of death. We hurried down the hall and Laverne screamed as another explosion, which I realized were cannonballs, tore through the wall directly behind us. We burst out into the night air, and I did not even think to close the door behind us, because we were suddenly surrounded by chaos.

The explosions, cannon-fire and gun shots defended me, but Laverne appeared to be unaffected by the loud noise. She shrieked as a filthy man attempted to grab her in a most ungentlemanly fashion, and hit him with her fist so that he fell back onto his rear. My own knuckles were beset with pain, and I grasped them with my free hand. I was getting no sympathy from Laverne, who hauled me to my feet without even glancing at her own injuries.

Ordinarily, I would have been ashamed of being protected by a woman, instead of being a man and protecting her. However, at the moment, I was too intoxicated with adrenaline to argue with her. We made our way up the street, intending to hide on the Swann Estate, but were met by a hysterical woman at the gate. It wasn't until she was actually upon us did I recognize her as my own sister.

"Amber!" I shouted, and she collapsed into my arms, the way she had when we were children, and the bigger boys would push her into a mud puddle.

"They're after Miss Swann." Amber gasped, and I exchanged an alarmed glance with Laverne, who was rubbing Amber's back in small circles that seemed to calm the younger woman.

"Well. We had better get over there." Laverne said, flashing me a mischievous smile that made me inexplicably nervous. It gave me the distinct impression that she knew more than she was saying.

"Go to the fort. You'll be safe there." I told Amber, and she nodded in understanding before running off. Steeling myself, I led the way up the path to the entrance to the Swann Mansion.


	5. Parley

- Laverne.

As I followed Lawrence through the door of Elizabeth's house, I couldn't help but squeak in alarm at the sight of the dead butler. Let me tell you, I man with his face blow apart is not a pretty sight. I thought I was going to hurl.

We raced up the stairs, and immediately ran into Elizabeth, who screamed before she could see we weren't pirates. Looking over her shoulder, I saw Pintel and Ragetti burst out of her room and I swore violently, getting a shocked look from Lawrence. The three of us turned and ran as fast as we could down the stairs, since neither Lawrence, nor I, had thought to bring a weapon.

Ragetti launched himself over the railing to land below us. If it had been a normal man, both his legs would have shattered if he were lucky, but he landed on his feet, large as life and twice as ugly. Although I knew he got nicer in the next movie, I really hated his guts right then.

A pirate ran out of a nearby room, piled down with gold, and was immediately blow back through by a cannonball. We took the opportunity and raced across the hall as the chandelier fell to the floor, blocking the two pirates' path for a moment. We ducked into a nearby room, and Elizabeth locked it with a candle holder.

"Who are you and why are you here?" She demanded, as if there were no pirates and we had just decided to take a stroll in her house.

"My name is Lawrence Martin, Miss." Lawrence said respectfully. "My sister, Amber, is your house maid. This is my friend Laverne Audrium." He motioned at me, and I curtsied clumsily.

The pirates began pounding on the door, and Elizabeth ran to try and take a sword from above the fireplace. Unfortunately, it was stuck to the shield and wouldn't budge. If the situation weren't so grave, I would have have laughed at her attempts. I pointed out the cabinet, and she climbed inside. Unfortunately, there was only room for one other person, and Lawrence forced me inside. I guess he was trying to make up for not being able to protect me out on the street.

Elizabeth and I watched as he got inside the fireplace and actually climbed up the chimney, since there were no windows for him to escape through. The door burst open, admitting Pintel and Ragetti into the room. I had never realized how creepy those two were, but as I listened to Pintel call out in a "here, doggy doggy" type voice, my blood ran cold, and I wished that I had hidden in the chimney with Lawrence. Suddenly, the pirate was there, looking in through the crack in the door.

"Hello poppets." He said, grinning nastily as they swung the doors open.

"Parley!" Elizabeth said, and both pirates froze. "I..."

"We." I muttered.

"... we invoke the right of parley. According to the code of the brethren set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you have to take us to your captain."

"I know the code." Pintel growled.

"When an adversary demands parley, you can do them no harm until the parley is complete."

"To blazes with the code..." Ragetti looked ready to kill Elizabeth on the spot, and I wondered how he went from this nasty fellow to a sorta sweet, semi-philosopher between movies.

"They want to be taken to the captain!" Pintel snarled, then turned to us with an ugly grin. "And they'll go without a fuss. We must honor the code."

We were taken out of the mansion, and down to a longboat, where we were taken aboard the _Black Pearl_. A muscular African man with tattoo scars approached. I think he was Barbosa's first mate, and that his name was Bo'sun, but I'm not sure.

"I didn't know we was takin' on captives." He rumbled.

"They invoked the right of parley with Captain Barbosa." Pintel explained.

Before I could warn her, Elizabeth stepped forward and got backhanded by the enormous man. I winced at the audible smack as his hand came in contact with her face. "You'll speak when spoken to." He snarled.

Barbosa grabbed the larger man's wrist. "And you'll not lay a hand on those under the protection of parley." He said. Bo'sun didn't look too happy, but acknowledged the reprimand. Barbosa turned back to us. "Apologies Miss." He said, completely ignoring me.

"Captain Barbosa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal." Elizabeth said, and I rolled my eyes.

"There be an awful lot of long words in there Miss, we're not but humble pirates." Barbosa said with a chuckle. "What is it you want?"

"I want you to leave, and never come back." I rubbed the bridge of my nose as the pirates laughed at Elizabeth's blunt statement. This girl was as green as a spring leaf.

"I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means 'no'." Barbosa looked smug, and Elizabeth yanked the medallion out of her nightgown.

"Very well then," She dangled the gold piece over the water, "I'll drop it."

I stopped listening at this point, because I noticed Twigg (who looked remarkably like Rot) giving me a dirty look. I backed away from him, only to run into Pintel, who pawed me inappropriately. Now, normally I'm not a violent person, but when you're a woman protecting your dignity it brings out your savage side. This is why, when Pintel put his hand on my rear, I grabbed his wrist in much the same way that Barbosa had grabbed Bo'sun's and bared my teeth at him.

"Try that again, and you'll be searching a looong time for this hand." I snarled, with such ferocity that it surprised even me. Pintel certainly hadn't been expecting it and actually took a step back.

Barbosa laughed, and I spun around to see him standing right behind me. "And who is this feisty young woman?"

"Laverne Audrium." I said. Unlike Elizabeth, I had no need to change my name. She was still standing by the edge of the ship, though the medallion was no longer hanging over the water.

Barbosa turned back to Elizabeth. "Very well. You hand it over, and we'll put your town to our rudder and ne'er return." He held out his hand and, after a moment's hesitation, she dropped the gold coin into his hand.

Immediately, Bo'sun began calling out orders, and the ship went into a bustle of activity which, thankfully, took Twigg and Pintel away from me. Elizabeth chased after Barbosa to try and make him take us back to shore, and I followed at a more lesurely pace, watching the pirates at work. The cads kept giving me lustful glances that made me move just a bit faster to stay close to Elizabeth. I arrived behind her, just in time to hear Barbosa say "Welcome aboard the Black Pearl... Miss Turner."

And then we were locked in the brig.


	6. Freeing the Sparrow

- Lawrence.

I began to regret my decision to hide in the chimney when I heard the pirates take Laverne and Miss Swann away... and discovered that I had become trapped in the narrow space. Despite the urgency of the situation, I was unable to extricate myself from my sooty prison until the following morning when one of the maids, who had been hiding elsewhere, heard my cries for help.

I hurried down the street, past the other victims of the pirate attack. Some of them even mistook me for a pirate, due to the layer of black soot that coated my clothes and skin. When I gained admittance to the fort, I was immediately assaulted by my sister, who bestowed on me a hug that I thought would break my ribs. After assuring her that I was uninjured, I sought out Commodore Norrington, who was conferring with several other officers and looking over a map. Will Turner, a young blacksmith that Amber claims is a great admirer of Miss Swann, was also there, speaking urgently with the Commodore.

Suddenly, Will slammed a hatchet down on the table. "That's not good enough!" He bellowed. The Commodore took him aside and spoke to him in a low voice, at which the young blacksmith walked off in a huff. Recognizing the look of a desperate, and rash, schemer, which I had seen on Amber's face enough times when we were young, I turned and hurried after him.

Will turned to go down into the jailhouse, and I almost walked right past. Making my way down to where the prisoners were kept, I heard Will call out "You! Sparrow!" and turned the corner to see him speaking with the boot-man, whose name apparently was Sparrow. The pirate was lying on his back in the middle of the cell, though a broken bone still sticking out of the lock told me that he had been trying to escape.

"You are familiar with the _Black Pearl_?" Will asked him, and he replied that he had heard of it.

"Then where does it make berth?" I asked, and both men turned to me in surprise.

"Who are you?" Will asked. I explained about Amber being Miss Swann's housemaid, and recounted how Laverne and the governor's daughter were kidnapped when we went to try and help. "You let them take Miss Swann?" Will demanded angrily, reaching for his sword as if to strike me down.

"I was trapped in a chimney, and even I hadn't been, I had no sword." I replied, my meager temper flaring at his assumption that I had simply allowed the pirates to kidnap our lady friends. "And I'll have you know that my lady friend was taken as well, so do not presume that you are the only one affected by this."

"So it is that you found a girl." Sparrow said, causing Will and I to flinch. We had forgotten his presence during our argument. "I see. What I don't see is why you two think I know where it is?"

"Because you're a pirate." Will said, as if it were obvious. I had not known that, but decided to remain silent instead of professing my ignorance.

"And you and your friend want to turn pirate yourselves, is that it?" Sparrow asked.

Will grabbed the bars and leaned forward as if this pirate had just insulted him in the worst way possible. "Never." He hissed.

"I never thought about it." I said truthfully, and Will sent me look that told me I was insane for even considering it. "Please just tell us where the Black Pearl makes berth?" I said to Sparrow.

"Don't you know the story?" Will and I stared at him uncomprehendingly and he sighed. "Captain Barbosa and his crew of miscreants sail from the dreaded Isla de la Muerta. It is an island that cannot be found, except by those who already know where it is."

I frowned, trying to figure out how the island was found in the first place, but Will was having none of it. "The ship is real enough." He said. "Therefore, its anchorage must be a real place. Where is it?"

"I'm sorry lads." Sparrow said. "But if you two are going to brave all, hasten to their resue and thus win your fair ladies' hearts, you'll have to do it alone mates. I see no profit in it for me."

I decided not to tell him that most people would not find Laverne "fair". They would not consider her ugly, either, but she was certainly not considered beautiful. I wondered how we could make it worth Sparrow's while to help us, but I only had to wonder for a moment.

"I can get you out of here." Will said.

"How's that? the key's run off." Sparrow was now propped up on his elbows, interested in spite of himself.

"I helped build these cells." Will explained, picking up a wooden bench and bracing it against the cell door. "These are half-pin barrel hinges. With the right leveral and the proper application of strength, the door will lift free."

"What's your name?"

"Will turner."

"That would be short for William, I imagine." Sparrow sat up. "Good strong name. No doubt named for your father, eh?"

"Yes."

Sparrow climbed to his feet. "Well, Mr. Turner, Mr..."

"Lawrence Martin." I said, when I realized that Sparrow was no longer speaking only to Will.

"Well, Mr. Turner, Mr. Martin, I changed me mind. If you get me out of here, I swear on pain of death that I will take you to the Black Pearl, and your bonnie lasses. Do we have an accord?" He put his hand through the bars for Will to shake.

"Agreed." Will shook the pirate's hand and, to my surprise, Sparrow turned so that his hand was now open for me to shake. I did so while echoing Will's acceptance.

"Agreed." Sparrow said, finalizing the deal. "Get me out."

Will and I shoved down on the bench, causing the cell door to topple over with a clatter. "Hurry. Someone will have heard that." Will said.

"Not without me effects." Sparrow grabbed several objects off a nearby wall and buckled them on as we ran out the door.


	7. The Dauntless Interceptor

- Lawrence.

Will, Sparrow and I splashed through a shallow stream to stand beneath a stone bridge. Sparrow was eyeing a large ship that was anchored off a nearby cove. I remembered Isaac once called it the _Dauntless_.

"We're going to steal a ship?" Will followed Sparrow's gaze. "That ship?"

"Commandeer. We're going to commandeer that ship." the pirate pointed at another ship entirely. I could barely read the word _Interceptor _written on its side.

"Why that ship?" I asked, and Sparrow turned to stare at me.

"The _Interceptor_'s the fastest ship in the King's Navy." He said, in the same tone Will had used to point out the captain's piracy. He turned to include to include Will in his next question. "One question about your business, boys, or it's no use going. These girls of yours. How far are you willing to go to rescue them?"

"I'd die for Elizabeth." Will said, without hesitation, but I just opened and closed my mouth a few times. I must have resembled one of the fish I used to catch.

Was I willing to die for Laverne? I wasn't sure. However, Will and Sparrow were both waiting for me to reply, so I shook off my indecision.

"I will do whatever is necessary to save her." I said, although I knew they would translate that into "I'd die for her."

"Oh, good." Sparrow said lightly. "No worries then."

We crept down the beach to where several longboats were lying face-down on the sand. Sparrow climbed underneath, and was joined a second later by Will. I managed to fit myself in between the two of them just as we heard a few soldiers march past.

"Now!" Sparrow said and we lifted the boat just far enough to shuffle forward into the water. Once we were below the surface, I was surprised to find that the space around our heads still contained breathable air.

"This is either madness, or brilliant." Will said, and I had to agree with him.

"It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide." Sparrow remarked, and I had to agree with him too.

I noticed that Will was walking strangely, and looked down to see that his foot had gotten snared in a lobster trap. "You're lucky that that was empty." I told him. "I once had one of those nasty creatures take a dislike to me, and it was not in the least bit enjoyable."

"As much as I would love to hear about your run-in with a cantankerous crustacean, I thought you might like to know that we are now under the _Dauntless_." Sparrow informed us.

Using Will's lobster trap, we tangled it around the _Dauntless_'s rudder, so that the ship would be able to steer. Then, we made our way up the aft of the ship, though I ashamed to say I required assistance at this juncture. Sparrow walked in a casually hurried manner down the stairs to stand before the captain of the ship.

"Everyone, stay calm!" He announced. "We are taking over the ship."

"Aye! Avast!" Will shouted, brandishing his sword. Sparrow and I stared at him while the men we were supposed to be intimidating laughed at us. Past fishing, I knew nothing about the sea, but even I knew that pirates did not shout "avast" when taking over a ship.

"This ship cannot be crewed by three men." The captain scoffed. "You'll never make it out of the bay."

"Son," Sparrow lifted his pistol to point at the captain's head, and pulled back the hammer, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?"

As the crew of the Dauntless piled into a longboat, I studied Captain Jack Sparrow. Captain of what? He obviously didn't have a ship, or else we would not have been inclined to steal one. He and Will were currently attempting to look as if they were trying and failing to set the _Dauntless_'s sails. I got to stand at the helm, pretendingto steer. Of course, I had absolutely no idea how to steer a vessel, but I held the enormous wheel lightly in my fingers and hoped I looked convincing.

Jack shook his head as he approached me. "You're holding it all wrong." He said.

"I'm sorry. I have very little experience with ships." I said, truthfully. "I once spent a week on my grandfather's trading vessel when I was ten, but besides that I've only ever seen them from afar."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You're going to be a big help, you are." He said sarcastically. "Haven't set foot on a ship in what, eightyears? Don't know the first thingabout sailing a vessel, and I'll bet you can't even sword-fight."

"I can defend myself." I said sheepishly. "Just because I don't get to hang around swords all day, doesn't mean I can't fight."

"We'll see." Jack didn't look convinced. But then, I had no idea whether my skills, taught forcefully to me by an ill-tempered boy named Samuel Tyler, would do any good against experienced swordsmen, so I wasn't really convinced either.

Will hurried up to stand beside us. "Here they come." He reported.

Jack looked over his shoulder at the approaching _Interceptor_, and grinned in the same way that Laverne had done before we entered Swann Mansion.

We hid in the aft section of the ship, while the our prey drew up alongside us. Waiting until every single member of their crew had come aboard the _Dauntless_, we swungacross to her faster counterpart. I almost didn't make it, catchingthe railingwith my midriff, but Will hauled me aboard. Whippingout his hatchet, Will sliced through the ropes holding the two ships together and we were off. Behind us, we could hear Commodore Norrington order his men back to the _Interceptor_, but it was too late, as one man figured out the hard way by swinging out into the water.

"Thank you Commodore, for getting us ready to make way!" Jack called back, waving his hat in a cheeky farewell. "We would have had a hard time of it by ourselves!"

We ducked down as the Commodore's men began shooting at us, but were quickly got out of range. I could see that something was brewing in the young blacksmith's mind, so I moved to stand near the helm of the ship, which was as far from my two comrades that I could get while still being able to hear their conversation. It was a good thing I did, too, because Will only began talking after I moved away.

"When I was lad, living in England, my mother raised me by herself." He said. "After she died, I came out here... looking for my father." He added pointedly, while glancing at Jack.

"Is that so?" Jack said, clearly attempting to avoid the conversation.

"My father, Bill Turner?" Will followed Jack up to stand beside me. "And in the jail, it was only after you learned my name that you agreed to help. Since that's what I wanted, I didn't press the matter. I'm not a simpleton, Jack. You knew my father."

Jack sighed and rose from where he had been tyingsomething down. "I knew 'im." He admitted. "Probably one of the few who knew him as William Turner. Everyone else just knew him as Bootstrap, or Bootstrap Bill."

"Bootstrap?" Will repeated. It certainly wasn't a common nickname, I had to admit.

"Good man." Jack said, removing a rope that held the helm in place. "Good pirate. I swear, you look just like 'im."

"It's not true." Will obviously did not like the answers Jack was giving him. "He was a merchant sailor. A good, respectable man who obeyed the law.

"He was a bloody pirate." Captain Sparrow's patience was obviously wearing thin, though he did not shout. "A scallywag."

"My father." Will drew his sword, causing me to take a step forward in alarm. "was not. a pirate."

"Will! Put that thing away!" I said, sounding surprisingly like my mother when she found me playing with something pointy.

"Listen to Lawrence, lad." Jack said tiredly. "It's not worth you getting beat again."

"You didn't beat me." Will growled. "You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd kill you."

"Well, that's not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?" Jack spun the wheel to the right, causing the yard sail to sweep Will off the boat.

"Will!" I hurried to the side of the boat, concerned for the youngblacksmith who now hung over the water like a wet shirt. "Jack, was that really necessary?"

"Quiet Lawrence." Jack said, before continuing to speak to Will. "Now as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention. The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do, and what a man can't do. For instance, you can accept that your father was a pirate, and a good man, or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that someday. Now, me, for example, I could let you drown. But I can't bring this ship into Tortuga with only Lawrence the Land-lover to help me. Savvy? So..." He turned the wheel back into place, letting Will fall back onto the deck, and held his sword up to the younger man's neck. "Can you sail under the command of a pirate?" He flipped the sword and offered it to Will. "Or can you not?"

Will accepted the blade. "Tortuga?" He asked.

"Tortuga." Jack confirmed, a merry twinkle in his eye.

I ran to the rail and was violently sick.

* * *

**I'm sorry if I got the name wrong on the thing that hit Will. I don't know much about ships. **


	8. What's your curse?

- Laverne.

I ran to the window and puked over the edge while several of Barbosa's men laughed at me. I turned and gave them a glare that only Pintel backed away from. Why, oh, why did I have to get sea-sick? Especially on a ship full of un-dead pirates who stare at my butt every time I lean over the railing to barf?

Finally, there was nothing left in my stomach, and I lowered myself to the deck. Elizabeth was still locked in her room, but since I wasn't needed to end the curse, and since we were miles out to sea, Barbosa let me out onto the deckafter I threw up in my room. They had jumped at me the first time I ran for the rail, but relaxed when I just started barfing again. They had seemed surprised by my lack of surprise, since the moon was out, showing them for the skeletons they were, but they must have figured that I was just too sick to freak out.

A shadow blocked out the moonlight, and I looked up to see Barbosa standing over me in full skeletal form. It was nasty enough that I would have heaved again if there had been anything in my stomach. His clothes were tattered enough that I could see his ribs and pelvis, and his skull face made his eyes look bugged out.

"I would appreciate it if you would have dinner with Miss Turner and myself." He said gruffly. I wondered how he could still talk when he had no lips, but then realized that that was a silly. What I should be wondering how he was alive with no organs, blood or brain. He held out his hand to help me up, and his skeletal fingers creaked. I recoiled, but then figured I could just wash my hands later, and tentatively placed my hand in his.

"Just don't expect me to eat anything, unless you want me right back here by this rail." I warned Barbosa, and he nodded in understanding. Or, at least, I think it was understanding. It was kinda hard to tell expressions on a face without any skin, eyelids or lips.

Now, I am in no way tall. In fact, at 4' 11'' I'm quite short. Barbosa clearly enjoyed towering over me as he led me to his cabin, since he was big even by normal people's standards. Elizabeth wasn't there yet. She was probably putting on that purplish-blackdress that Barbosa sent her.

Speaking of Barbosa, the illegitimate sat me down at a table laden with high-class food. I was almost sent back to the railing at the sight of a suckling pig on a platter, but was quickly distracted by the fact that a certain cursed captain was staring at me. Hoping he was looking over my shoulder, I turned to look behind me. Nothing.

"What?" I asked, since he was giving a look usually reserved for when he's making Jack walk the plank.

"You know Miss Audrium," He said, studying an apple as if he wanted to bite into it, but knew it would taste like sweaty gym socks if he did, "when I discovered that I had no need of your services, I could have made you walk the plank with a cannonball tied around your neck."

"So why didn't you?" I asked. I was getting uncomfortable under his piercing gaze.

"Curiosity." Barbosa said simply. "I can smell a curse on you, same as a dog can smell out another dog. However, it's obvious that you're not plagued by the same curse as we are. So what I want to know is, what manner of curse are you under?"

I stared at him. It was like un-dead small talk. 'Oh, I'm under a curse that makes me into a skeleton by moonlight, what curse are you under?' However, he was still watching me and waiting for an answer.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think I might be... attached to this guy I know." I said, not wanting to give him anything to use against me, but also knowing that he wouldn't drop it till he knew. "Whenever he gets hurt, I get hurt, and visa versa."

Barbosa nodded thoughtfully, just as Elizabeth entered wearing the purplish-black dress. I realized what this must look like, with Barbosa's face being mere inches from my own. Seriously, the guy had no sense of personal space and his breath was foul. My stomach roiled and I made a dash for the door and the railing.

A few minutes later, Elizabeth raced out of the room and was taken on a whirlwind tour of the deck, compliments of the skeleton crew. Hmm, the Skeleton Crew, sounds like a rock band. I just sat on the deck, attempting to unloada stomach that was already empty. I hoped that Lawrence wasn't being too inconvenienced on his end of the curse. And I was fully ready to believe Barbosa when he said I was cursed, too. However, between Elizabeth's constant screeching and my upset stomach, I decided to save the thinking until later.

I noticed that Elizabeth had finally run back to Barbosa's cabin, and he was giving her the details of the curse, complete with the wine-spilling skeletal scare at the end. When the poor girl was finally locked inside his cabin, he turned and sauntered over to me. I had somehow managed to get tangled in my skirts again while sliding to the floor and was attempting to untangle them. I turned and cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Yes? Can I help you with something?" I asked rhetorically. This was code for "What are you looking at? Go away!" But, apparently he didn't know the code, since he took my question seriously.

"Actually, there is somethin' you can be helpin' me with." He said, and I tried not to stare at his lip-less mouth as he talked. "I want ya to go see to Miss Turner. Make sure she doesn't try anything."

"Like what?" I asked, before dry heaving again. "We're miles out to sea, I'm sick as a dog and she's scared silly. What is it you think we could pull?"

"I don't think you can pull anything." Barbosa replied. "Which is why I suggest for both your sakes that you keep her from the attempt."

I didn't like the way he said "for both your sakes", 'cause since he needed Elizabeth for the cursed gold, he would take any escape attempt out on the the person he found superfluous,namely: me. It took a few more minutes, but I finally untangled myself from my skirt and made my unsteady way to the door of Barbosa's cabin.

"Elizabeth?" I poked my head around the door, and a bottle smashed against the wall. "Woah! Elizabeth!"

The governor's daughter stood with the second bottle of wine held ready to throw, but lowered it when she saw that it was only me. After that jolt of adrenaline, I managed to make it to make it to a chair before collapsing. Elizabeth sat down across from me, and I tried to look at her while keeping the dead pig out of my line of sight.

"Did you see them?" She asked, and I gave her an incredulous look.

"What, you mean the crew of un-dead pirates that turn to skeletons in the moonlight?" I asked sarcastically. "Nope. Didn't see a thing."

"How can you be so calm around these... things?" Elizabeth asked. "I've never been more scared in my life, and yet you act like nothing's wrong!"

"That's because I an hour on deck before you showed up, so I was able to get used to their... weight loss."

"We need to escape. We cannot simply wait for them for them to sacrafice me!"

I sighed. "Barbosa said you would might try something." I said. "And he also hinted that if you do try it, then it'll be me that they take it out on."

"Why you?"

I sighed. Elizabeth was being so thick! "Because, my dear 'Miss Turner'," I ground out, "You are needed to break the curse, while I am not. Savvy?"

Elizabeth stared at me. "What did you say?"

"Savvy. It means 'understand'."

"Yes, I know what it means. Where did you learn it?"

"I don't know, I just picked it up somewhere."

Elizabeth didn't look convinced, and I knew she suspected a certain bandanna-wearing pirate of teaching me the word, but she let it drop. I tried to nibble a bit on the food, since the swaying of the ship was less pronounced in the cabin, but the only thing I could hold down was a slice of bread, and even that was bound to go over the side later.

It was a long way to Isla de la Muerta.


	9. Tortuga, a crew and a storm

- Lawrence.

I was violently ill for most of the journey to Tortuga. I attempted to convince Jack that I did not get seasick, but since I was disinclined to tell him about my link with Laverne, I'm afraid he was only further convinced of my worthlessness. I only hoped he would not leave me behind.

When we finally arrived at Tortuga, I was astonished at how... lively it was. Men were shooting guns into the air and fighting in the streets, liquer was being drunk by both the men and the women, the latter of which were undoubtedly whores. I followed Jack so closely that when he stopped, I bumped into him. He glared at me before stealing a cane off a passing man.

"So what do you think?" He asked us.

"It'll linger." Will said noncommittally.

"I'll tell ya mates, if every port in the world were like Tortuga, no man would ever feel unwanted." A red-headed woman, obviously a whore, approached and Jack hurried over to her excitedly. "Scarlet!" He said, and she slapped him so hard that his head snapped around. "Not sure I deserved that." He said. Next, a blond approached and he became distinctly nervous. "Giselle."

"Who was she?" Gizelle asked.

"Wha?"

Slap!

"I might have deserved that one." Jack conceded.

"You seem to have quite a way with the ladies, Captain." I said, and Will raised his eyebrows at him.

"Shut up and follow me."

Jack had us collect two buckets of water, then led us to an animal pen. Inside the pen were two enormous hogs, one of which was currently being used as a pillow by an older man with grey muttonchops. Without any kind of preamble, Jack took the bucket of water from my hands and threw its contents over the sleeping man, who instantly snapped awake.

"Curse ya for breathin', ya slack-jawed idiot!" He roared, then saw who it was that had thrown the water. "Mother's love! Jack! Ya should know better then ta wake a man when he's sleepin'. Tis bad luck."

"Ah. Fortunately, I know how to counter it." Jack said, moving in closer. "The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink, and the man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking."

The pig-man obviously understood Jack's words better than I did, because after only a moments confusion, his eyes lit up and he took Jack's proffered hand. "Aye! That'll about do it." He said. Jack hauled his colleague to his feet and Will splashed the older man with the second bucket. "Blast it, I'm already awake!"

"That was for the smell." Will's explaination seemed to satisfy the old man, who nodded and shrugged.

The old man, whose name was Mr. Gibbs, led us to a tavern called the Faithful Bride. Personally, I didn't think it looked like the kind of place to take a faithful bride, but the owner could name it what he pleased. Jack bought two mugs of ale, and told Will and I to keep a sharp eye out, before joining Gibbs at a secluded table.

Will and I exchanged looks. I moved as close to the table as I could get without rousing their suspicions. Jack and Gibbs were crouched over their mugs, looking as thick as the thieves they were. Fortunately, I am blessed with excellent hearing, which is why the cannons caused me so much pain back in Port Royal. I was able to hear every word the two pirates said, despite the ruckus around me.

"Now." Gibbs began. "What's the nature of this venture of yourn?"

"I'm going after the _Black_ _Pearl_." Jack said, causing Gibbs to choke on his ale. "I know where it's going to be, and I'm gonna take it."

"Jack, it's a fool's errand. You know better'n me the tales of the _Black Pearl_."

"That's why I know what Barbosa is up to. All I need is a crew."

"What I hear of Captain Barbosa, he's not a man to suffer fools, nor strike a bargain with one."

"Well then, I'd say it's a very good thing I'm not a fool then, eh?"

"Prove me wrong!" Gibbs challenged. "What makes you think that Barbosa'll give up 'is ship to you?"

"Let's just say it's a matter of leverage, eh?" I noticed Will turn his head slightly at this point, and knew he had heard what Jack had said.

Jack waggled his head in Will's direction, indicating that Will was the "leverage" he was talking about, though it took Gibbs a moment to catch on. The older man turned and looked at Will, who was trying to get a large, drunken woman to leave him alone.

"The kid?" Gibbs asked, surprised.

Jack nodded. "That is the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner." He said pointedly. "His only child. Savvy?"

"Is he now?" Gibbs suddenly looked very interested in Jack's proposition. "'Leverage' says you, 'I think I feel a change in the wind' says I. I'll find us a crew. There's bound to be some sailors on this rock as crazy as you."

"One can only hope." Jack raised his mug in a toast. "Take what you can..."

"Give nothin' back." They tapped their mugs together, drank deeply, and slammed said mugs down onto the table.

* * *

The next day, Jack, Will and I stood before the sorriest collection of men I had ever seen. The healthiest two among them was a young... someone with his hat pulled down and a dwarf that barely made it past my knee.

"Feast your eyes Captain!" Gibbs said proudly. "All of them faithful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt. And crazy, to boot."

"So... this... is your able bodied crew?" Will looked about as impressed as I was by this rag-tag bunch.

Jack didn't reply as he walked down the line, looking over every crewman until he stopped before a man with a leathery face and a parrot on his shoulder. "You, sailor!" He called out.

"Cotton, sir." Gibbs supplied.

"Mr. Cotton. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" When he got no answer, Jack glared at the man. "Mr. Cotton! Answer man."

"Uh, he's a mute sir." Gibbs cut in, before Cotton could face the wrath of Captain Jack Sparrow. "Poor devil had his tongue cut out..." Here Cotton opened his mouth to show us what was left of his tongue. I covered my mouth in shock and Jack stuck out his own tongue as if to make sure it was still there. "So he trained the parrot to talk for him." Gibbs finished. "No-one's yet figgered how."

Jack took a step, as if to continue down the line, but then turned back to the mute sailor. "Mr. Cotton's... parrot. Same question."

"Rawk! Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!" the parrot squawked, and we all turned to Gibbs in confusion.

"Mostly we figger that means 'yes'." Gibbs explained.

"Well, of course it does!" Jack turned to Will and me. "Satisfied?"

"Well, you've proved their mad." Will said, and I nodded in agreement.

"And what's the benefit for us?" A voice asked, and Jack moved toward it, crouched as if trying to sneak up on the speaker.

It was the sailor I had noticed earlier, with the hat over his face. Jack peeked under the brim, then yanked it off, revealing the wearer to be a pretty, black woman. "Anna-Maria." He said, and she slapped him across the face.

"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" Will said.

"No, that one I deserved." Jack admitted.

"You. Stole. My. Boat!" Anna-Maria accused him. Jack began to speak, but she struck him again before he could say anything more than "Actually."

"Borrowed! Borrowed, without your permission, but with every intention of bringing it back." Jack said, holding his injured cheek.

"But you didn't."

"You'll get another one." Jack promised and leaned away from the accusing figure Anna-Maria pointed at him.

"I will." She said, in such a way that you knew she would make her new boat out of his hide if she had to, but she would get her boat.

"A better one." Will supplied, and Jack pointed at him in agreement while repeating his words.

"That one." Will pointed to the _Interceptor_.

"What one?" Jack asked. I pointed helpfully at the _Interceptor_, and he turned on Will. "That one?" He turned back to Anna-Maria. "Aye. That one. What say you?"

"Aye!" She declaired, and was echoed by the rest of the crew as they headed for the ship.

"No, no, nononono. It's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard sir." Gibbs said nervously. The man seemed to be very superstitious.

"It'd be far worse not to have her." Jack said, peering up into the sky. I followed his line of sight, but saw nothing except blue sky.

* * *

A storm. A storm was what Jack had seen in the blue sky. I hugged the mast, wishing he had been wrong, and tried to avoid being swept overboard. The captain, himself, was at the helm, steering with one hand while checking his compass with the other. Will and Gibbs stumbled past, just as I lost my grip on the slippery wood, and I slammed into Gibbs. We both fell to the deck in a wet pile.

"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find?" Will had to shout to be heard over the wind. "With a compass that doesn't work?"

"Aye! The compass doesn't point North." Gibbs shouted back, while hauling me to my feet. "But we're not trying to find North, are we?"

"What?" I had noticed the compass hanging from Jack's belt, but the pirate had refused to give me a straight answer about it.

Either Gibbs didn't hear me, or was ignoring me, because he turned to Jack. "We should drop canvas sir!" He called out.

"She can 'old a bit longah!" Jack said, though the ship was creaking under the pressure.

"What's in your head that's put in such a fine mood Captain?" Gibbs asked. This was a fine mood? Well, he wasn't calling anyone names, so he must be happy.

"We're catching up." Jack grinned.


	10. Isla de la Muerta

- Laverne

Elizabeth didn't leave Barbosa's cabin for the rest of the voyage, though I made constant trips to the ship's rail for a while. However, my seasickness slowly dissipated until I only went on deck to get away from Elizabeth's moping. I found Ragetti to be less mean and nasty, now that the end of the curse was in sight, but Pintel was, and always would be, a perverted pig.

Finally, we came into view of Isla de la Muerta. I guess my being so comfortable with the crew made Barbosa nervous, because when some of the men came to fetch Elizabeth, they brought me along too. Barbosa hung the medallion around Elizabeth's neck, while Ragetti made these weird huffing sounds of anticipation, and then we were put into the longboats. To my disgust and discomfort, I had to sit next to Twigg, who happened to be the only member of the crew, besides Bo'sun, who could intimidate me.

Elizabeth and I were led into a large cave, filled with piles of silver, gold and jewels. It looked like the stereotypical pirates' cave, complete with a solid gold treasure chest as its centerpiece. I was thrown into a corner, with Twigg to guard me, while Elizabeth was led over to the chest...

* * *

- Lawrence.

The Interceptor sailed slowly through water littered with the wrecks of other poor devils who came upon the island unawares. Listen to me. I've been spending far too much time with Mr. Gibbs. I'm starting to talk like him.

I was feeling distinctly nervous in this ships' graveyard, though the eerie fog that wrapped itself around the ship, and the Cotton's parrot calling out "Dead men tell no taaales" probably had something to do with it. Will and Gibbs were beside me at the rail, watching pieces of past ships float by.

"Puts a chill in me bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage." Gibbs said darkly. I covered my mouth nervously as I saw several sharks swim past, and the first mate laughed dryly. "Don't worry lad. Jack knows what he's doin'." He assured me.

I could see Jack up at the helm. He was attempting to look at his compass, but kept glancing uncomfortably at Cotton, who was standing behind him. Finally, he put it away and changed course slightly.

"How is it that Jack came by that compass?" Will asked, as he and I followed Gibbs across the deck.

"Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrah before he showed up at Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the island of Muerta." Gibbs said. "That was before I met 'im. Back when he was cap'n of the _Black Pearl_."

Will turned to stare at him. "What?" He gasped and the first mate seemed to sense that he had inadvertently given away a secret, because his eyes widened behind his liqueur bottle. "He failed to mention that."

"It does seem like a good detail to know." I agreed.

"Well, he plays things closer to the vest now." Gibbs explained. "And a hard-learned lesson it was. See, three days out on the venture, the first mate comes to him and says 'everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure, too.' So Jack gives up the bearings." Will nodded his head, indicating that he agreed with Jack's decision, but Gibbs wasn't finished yet. "That night, there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die. But not before he'd mad with the heat."

"Ah." Will said. "So that's the reason for all the..." He widened his eyes and swayed drunkenly in imitation of Jack.

"Reason's got nothin' ta do with it." Gibbs said seriously. He sat down on a barrel and we followed suit. "Now, Will, Lawrence. When a pirate is marooned, he's given a pistol with a single shot. One shot! Well, that won't do much good huntin' or to be rescued. But after three weeks of a starvin' belly an' thirst," he raised two fingers to his head like the barrel of a gun, "that pistol's startin' ta look real friendly. But, Jack, he escaped the island, and still has that single shot. Oh, he won't use it though, save on one man: his mutinous first mate."

"Barbosa." Will and I said in unison.

"Aye."

"How did Jack get off the island?" Will asked.

"Well, I'll tell ya." Gibbs said, looking pleased at having a captive audience. "He waded out into the shallows, and he waited there for three days and three nights, till all manner of sea creatures came, acclimated to his presence." Here he became more excited. "And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a coupla sea turtles and lashed them together to make a raft."

"He roped a couple of sea turtles?" Will repeated, sounding disappointed at getting this fantastic story instead of what really happened.

"Aye! Sea turtles."

"What did he use for rope?" I asked curiously. Gibbs was obviously not expecting this question, and pursed his lips in thought before turning to the captain.

"Human hair." Jack said. "From my back. Let go the anchor!" He shouted, and got a chorus of ayes from the crew, who scurried to obey him. "Young Mr. Turner, Mr. Martin and I are to go ashore."

"Me?" I was surprised that Jack would want me to come, since I had no experiance with a sword. "But I can't sword-fight."

"Mr. Martin, that is what makes you so supremely qualified to come. Now, Will here seems to think that you can solve all your disputes by pulling out a sword, but not you. You have to think of alternatives to fighting, and since our enemies cannot be killed, we need all the alternatives we can get."

Jack moved toward the long-boats, but was stopped by Mr. Gibbs. "Captain! What if the worst should 'appen?" the first mate asked.

The eccentric captain paused for a second before telling him to "keep to the code." Whatever that means.

Will and I exchanged glances before getting ready to go ashore.


	11. Don't do anything stupid

- Lawrence.

I insisted on rowing the longboat, but barely made it half-way to the island before Jack rolled his eyes and forced me to trade seats with him. However, when we entered a dark maze of tunnels, lit only by a lantern that Will held on a pole, I was very glad that I was not steering the boat. I gave a squeak of alarm at the sight of a skeleton impaled on a sword, but then relaxed when I realized it couldn't be one of Barbosa's men.

"What code is Gibbs to keep to if the worst should happen?" Will asked, having also seen the skeleton.

"The pirate's code." Jack explained. "Any man who falls behind, is left behind."

"No heroes amongst thieves, eh?"

"They're pirates, not just thieves." I said, but neither of them were paying attention to me.

"Ya know, for someone with such a bleak outlook on pirates, you're well on your way to becoming one." Jack pointed out. "You sprung a man from jail, commandeered a ship of the fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga, and..." He noticed that Will was staring, transfixed, at the glittering gold coins under the water. "You're completely obsessed with treasure."

"I've never seen him take an interest in riches before, Captain." I said, as we hauled the longboat onto shore.

"See, it's not true." Will said, satisfied that he had me to back him up. "I am not obsessed with treasure."

"Not all treasure's silver and gold, mates." Jack said, peering over a pile of treasure. We went to join him, and I gasped involuntarily.

There was more treasure in that room than I had seen in in my entire life, but I was quickly distracted by the sight of Laverne, sitting forlornlyin a corner. She was being guarded by a pirate in a ratty cloth cap. Will, on the other hand, was more worried about Miss Swann, who stood behind a stone chest, along with Barbosa.

"Elizabeth!" He cried, but managed to keep calm for the time being.

Meanwhile, Barbosa was giving a rousing speech to his men. Although I could hear him perfectly, I wasn't paying attention to what he was saying until he kicked off the lid of chest, causing Miss Swann to back away in surprise.

"Here it is!" He announced. "the cursed treasure of Cortez himself!"

Will and I glanced at Jack, but the pirate captain stared fixedly at his nemesis, his brown eyes smoldering with hatred.

"Every last piece that has gone astray, we have returned." Barbosa continued. "Save for this!" He pointed at the medallion Miss Swann wore around her neck and his men cheered.

"Jack." Will's voice was panicked, and we had to restrain him or else he would have tried to rescue Miss Swann right there and then.

"Stay down you idiot!" I hissed, my temper flaring. How dare he risk everything when we're so close to our goal?

"Indeed." Jack agreed. "We must wait for the opportune moment."

"When's that?" Will asked, following Jack down the hall. "When it's the greatest profit to you?"

"No." I said. "The opportune moment would be the moment when your not outrageously out-numbered by a crew of pirates who can't be killed."

Jack nodded in my direction, to show I'd proved his point. "Can I ask you something?" He asked Will. "Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me? Do us a favor. I know it's difficult for you, but please... stay here. And try not to do anything... stupid."

Will and I watched Jack disappear down the tunnel, then my blacksmith friend grabbed a nearby oar and beckoned to me before following our oft-intoxicated colleage.

"Where are we going?" I whispered as we crept along.

"We're going to rescue Elizabeth." Will said without hesitation. Jack was right. He was completely obsessed with this girl.

"What about Laverne?" I asked, and Will had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Oh... Yes. We'll rescue her too."

"And the oar?"

"This?" Will hefted the piece of wood. "This is for Jack."

Jack had made his way around to another opening in the cave, where he was watching Barbosa continue his speech. My foot hit a patch of gold coins and he turned... just in time for Will to smash him across the face with his oar. I winced in sympathy.

"Sorry, Jack." Will threw down the oar. "I'm not gonna be your leverage."


	12. The escape, sort of

- Laverne.

I felt a bit stupid, sitting in my corner, listening to Barbosa give his spiel and about the curse and the treasure and the blood, though the pirates certainly found it exciting. Twigg had moved a fair distance away from me to listen and cheer, so I decided to pass the time by looking for Will. He would undoubtedly be here by now, but I knew that Jack would keep him from doing anything stupid until the whelpknocks him out with an oar, and that said whelp will not try anything until Barbosa hits Elizabeth.

The jingle of falling coins caught my attention, and I was just in time to see Will's hand disappear from view as he was dragged down by two figures. Wait a minute. Two? One of them was Jack, I knew that, but who was the other one? I tried to think of who else might know about our abduction, but, besides Norrington, only Lawrence came to mind. Did he really care enough about me to come rescue me, despite having known me for only a day? Or was he here to rescue Elizabeth too?

A few minutes later, I spotted Jack's head poke out of a nearby tunnel. I tried to catch his eye without drawing attention to myself, but he was busy watching Barbosa and Elizabeth. It figures. I winced in sympathy as Will cracked him over the head with an oar. I saw that Lawrence was standing behind him, and unlike the pirate and the blacksmith, was looking at me instead of Elizabeth or Barbosa.

Meanwhile, Barbosa had sliced open Elizabeth's hand while his crew cheered him on. The blond looked shocked for a second, then turned to the un-dead captain in confusion.

"That's it?" She asked.

"Waist not." Barbosa smirked.

I suddenly realized that, unlike Blondie over there, I wasn't going to be in a good position to be rescued. So, instead of watch the blood sacrifice like everyone else, I tried to figure out a way to get into the tunnels myself and hoped that I wasn't messing up Will's plan. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Will and Lawrence sneak into the cave while the pirates were waiting, with their eyes shut melodramatically, for the curse to lift. While Will hid near the small pool beside the stone chest, Lawrence skirted the back of the room and actually managed to reach me before the pirates opened their eyes and he had to hide.

Then Barbosa had his little hissy-fit because Elizabeth wasn't the kid they were looking for, and slapped her upside the face so that she rolled down the pile of gold coins to land near Will's hiding place. Really, you would think all this was planned out. Oh, that's right, it was.

Lawrence peeked out from the crevasse that he had hidden in. It was conveniantly close to where I was, so when the pirates started arguing, he ducked out just long enough to grab me and pull me in with him. I wasn't sure what was supposed to happen now, and apparently Lawrence hadn't thought this far ahead either, because his face was strained. Too bad our escape couldn't go as smoothly as Will and Elizabeth's.

Then, Barbosa realized that Elizabeth had escaped with the medallion, and all hell broke loose. I grabbed Lawrence's hand and pulled him out of the crevasse. It was now or never. It was a good thing we had the element of surprise, though, because otherwise we wouldn't have made it ten steps. As it were, we made it into the tunnel before they even realized we were escaping.

"After them!" Barbosa ordered.

It would have worked out perfectly, too, if I hadn't run smack dab into Jack Sparrow, coming the other way. He was evidently still feeling the effects of Will's walloping, because he had been swaying even more than usual and was using Will's oar as a walking stick.

"Keep going!" I shouted, and Lawrence hesitated only a moment before obeying. The pirates were so busy staring, open-mouthed, at Jack that they didn't even notice him go.

"You..." Ragetti seemed stunned, but Pintel just looked angry as Jack and I climbed to our feet.

"You're supposed to be dead!" He accused Jack, and the eccentric pirate glanced down at himself.

"Am I not?" He asked. Even though this was a line from the movie, the way he said it now made it seem like he had been convinced of his own murder at Will's hand. He turned, and tried to leave through the tunnel, but was met with Bo'sun and when he turned again he had a lot of guns and daggers pointed at him.

"Sheesh." I grunted. "These guys don't seem to like you very much, Jack."

"Perlin." Jack stopped and put his finger to his lips in thought. "Parlilalilay... parlalalailoo..." His attempts were kinda funny, especially coupled with the confused looks that the pirates were giving him, but I managed to keep my self-control. He then began to list off a series of words beginning with "par".

"Parley?" I asked, at the same time Ragetti did.

"That's the one! Parley!" Jack declaired happily, while Pintel glared at Ragetti.

"Down to the depth with whatever muttonhead thought up 'parley'." The bald-headed pirate snarled.

"That would be the French." Jack said, and I rolled my eyes.


	13. falling behind and falling down

- Lawrence.

To my eternal surprise, I managed to make it to the longboat before Will and Miss Swann cast off. Will asked me what happened, and I related how she had to be left behind. Now that I thought about it, I wondered why I left. After all, if Barbosa kills Laverne, I will die too, so escaping the cave will not save my life.

Will was staring at me in much the same way he had Jack, back in the jail. "How could you just leave her there?" He demanded. "How could you leave her in the hands of those pirates?"

"She told me to!" I said. "And she's with Jack, so I know she's in good hands." And I believed it, too. Jack may have wished to use Will as "leverage", but he had included me in the rescue, even though I was hopeless at sailing and Laverne was of no use to him in his plans. In my mind, that made him at least mildly qualified to protect my friend.

Will and I helped Miss Swann climb onto the _Interceptor_, and I felt her stiffen. She was staring at Jack's crew, who didn't exactly look like honest sailors.

"Not more pirates." She gasped.

"Welcome aboard, Miss Elizabeth." Gibbs greeted her. He seemed friendly with her, as if they had met before.

"Mr. Gibbs?" Ah, so they had met before. I see.

"Hey, boy, where be Jack?" Gibbs snapped at Will.

"Jack?" Elizabeth asked in surprise. "Jack Sparrow?"

"He fell behind." Will replied, his face a stone mask.

"Now, hold on!" I called after him. "What about Laverne? She's still back there as well!"

"Well, you should have thought of that before you left her." Will said harshly. "If you truly cared about her, you would have fought to protect her."

Before I even realized what had happened, Will was on the ground, clutching his injured jaw, and my hand hurt like hell.

"Will!" Elizabeth ran to his side, her injured hand leaving smears of blood on his near-white sleeve.

"What's gotten inta ya lad?" Gibbs asked, as surprised as I was at my bout of violence.

"Laverne is the only reason I came on this addle-brained voyage." I said. My temper was flaring again. It must be quicker than I previously thought. "If she hadn't been taken, I would have been perfectly happy staying in Port Royal. Don't you dare question my loyalty to her!"

I stormed away, leaving Elizabeth to take her love below deck, and took refuge in the crow's nest. I've found that high places help clear my head, allowing me to think clearly.

Why had I gotten so angry? It might have been because he was hinting at my cowardice, but I suspected it was more than that. I suspected it was because he questioned my friendship with Laverne. How much did I really care for her? The curse that bound us together was, of course, part of the reason I came after her, but my concern for her safety was also genuine.

Gibbs poked his head over the side. "You should know that we're gettin' under way." He told me. "So unless ya want look-out duty, I suggest ya come down."

I sighed and nodded, my head still buzzing with questions. Why was life so difficult?


	14. The battle

- Laverne.

Jack and I were approached by Barbosa. Jack seemed to notice my lack of intimidation by the bigger pirate, and grinned. Barbosa glared at him.

"How the blazes did you get off that island?" The un-dead pirate asked.

"When you marooned me on that God-forsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing mate." Jack said.

"He's Captain Jack Sparrow." I finished with him. Everyone gave me odd looks, since that was the second time I had spoken in unison with someone. "Savvy?" I added, a bit lamely.

"Well, I won't be makin that mistake...again." Barbosa said "again" right into Jack's face, and since I was standing right next to the Kohl-wearing pirate, I could smell his foul breath. Which was odd, since he didn't need to breath. "Gents, ya all remember Captain Jack Sparrow?" His crew gave a murmur of affirmation. "Kill 'im."

I backed up against Jack as the crowd of pirates suddenly bristled with pistols aimed in our direction. Barbosa didn't even care that I would be killed too. After all, I couldn't lift the curse, and he wouldn't be able to get any "pleasure" out of me until that happened, so why should he keep me around?

"The girl's blood didn't work, did it?" Jack said, and Barbosa froze.

"Hold your fire!" Barbosa ordered. When his crew lowered their pistols I took a step away from Jack, who really stunk of rum and BO. Sorry to burst your bubble, fangirls. "You know whose blood we need?" Barbosa asked.

"I know whose blood you need." Jack affirmed.

* * *

About ten minutes later, I sat in barbosa's cabin and listened to Jack try and con him. I always found this scene a bit superfluous, since it does nothing except give Johnny Depp some extra screen time. After Bo'sun emerged and told us that they were approaching the _Interceptor_, we were dragged out onto the deck, where Jack continued to bug Barbosa. It was kind of boring in real life, but at least I wasn't on the _Interceptor_, with Will and Elizabeth making goo-goo eyes at each other.

Finally, Barbosa got fed up with Jack and ordered him and me locked in the brig. When I hit the inch or so of water at the bottom of the cell, I half-hoped that it would turn into a puddle-portal. Unfortunately, Fate was having none of it, and the water remained a mere inch deep.

"Apparently, there's a leak." Jack noted.

"Aye. That there be." I agreed. I noticed him staring at me, and raised my eyebrows in a "well, what is it?" expression.

"You seem familiar." He said.

"Sword-fight with Will Turner. I pulled you down from the ceiling."

"Ah! Yes!" Jack leaned against the bars. "And your name is... Laverne?" He tasted the name like some new, exotic fruit. "Strange name."

"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled, putting my eye to a small hole in the wall. "Com'ere and look at this."

Jack joined me at the hole, and we watched a couple barrels float by.

* * *

- Lawrence.

I helped Cotton send a large crate into the ocean, and turned to Will. Although I had an extreme dislike for the man at the moment, I decided to put it aside till later. Despite the noticeable decrease in the ship's weight, the _Black Pearl _was almost upon us. Will, Gibbs, Miss Swann, and Anna-Maria were standing at the helm, discussing our options.

"Gibbs!" Will said. "We need to take a stand. We must fight!"

"Are you crazy, as well as insensitive?" I shouted. "What are we going to load the cannons with?"

"Anything! Everything! Anything we have left!" Will declared.

"You **are** crazy!" I yelled, but Gibbs actually seemed to be considering it.

"Load the guns!" The first mate ordered, and I glared at Will in frustration. If I died, then so did Laverne. I could only hope that this blacksmith-turned-pirate didn't send us all to the bottom.

"I hope you know what you're doing." I told him, before heading off to help collect cannon ammunition. I needed to keep my hands busy in order keep my thoughts from turning morbid.

A few minutes later, Gibbs shouted something about the _Pearl _taking us without ever creating a target. Handing off my box of collected silverware to a nearby sailor, I hurried up join the group at the helm.

"Lower the anchor on the right side." Miss Swann suggested. When she got blank looks from Gibbs and Anna-Maria, she corrected herself. "On the starboard side!"

"It certainly has the element of surprise." Will reasoned.

"You're as crazy as he is!" I told Miss Swann.

"He's right." Anna-Maria agreed. "You're daft lady. You both are!"

This only seemed to encourage Mr. Gibbs, whose eyes lit up. "Daft like Jack." He said. "Lower the starboard anchor!" He shouted to the crew. "Do it ya gobs, or it's you we'll load into the cannons!"

The anchor was dropped over the side, and after a minute or two the rope went taut. "Let go of the wheel!" I shouted, and Anna-Maria released it. This allowed the ship to execute an unnaturally sharp turn, so that we were now broad-side to the approaching _Pearl_.

We were ready for battle... more or less.

* * *

Jack and I stumbled back against the bars of the cell as the Black Pearl turned hard to port. I had seen this part of the movie enough to stay near the cell door, which I knew would be blown open soon. Lo and behold, a few minutes later a large hole exploded out of the wall and Jack delivered his famous "Stop blowing holes in my ship!" line.

"Jack?" I tapped his shoulder and pushed open the door. "You comin'?"

We crept out onto the deck, which was in complete chaos. One of the _Interceptor_'s masts had fallen like a bridge between the two ships, and I could hear barbosa yelling at the top of his lungs. Jack wandered over to the side of the ships, completely unfazed by the carnage around him. Not wanting to be left behind, I broke from hiding to join him just as a sailor swung across to us.

"Thank's very much." Jack said as he knocked the man into the water, and held out his arm to me. "Com'on lass!"

Relieved that Jack wasn't going to make me steal my own rope, much less swing on it, I wrapped my arms around his chest and we leapt over the side. Unfortunately, we didn't quite make it across the first time, and I was treated to an earful of Jack's screaming. When we did make it to the _Interceptor_, Gibbs jumped up in surprise.

"Jack!"

Jack just gave him his liqueur bottle, and told him it was "bloody empty".


	15. Jack's Island

- Laverne

I followed Jack across the deck of the _Interceptor_, which was no less chaotic than the _Black Pearl_. In fact, I think it might have been more so. I searched frantically for Lawrence, but didn't see him anywhere. Unfortunately, I soon found out. My lungs began to burn as I saw Elizabeth run past in search of Will, and I knew that Lawrence was either trapped along with our resident blacksmith, or was drowning in the ocean. I hoped it was the former, because Will escapes from the hold and if he can, Lawrence can.

I saw Jack chase Jack the monkey across the fallen mast, and immediately surrendered to the next pirate who threatened me, which happened to be Twigg.

"We gotta stop meeting like this." I joked as he hauled me across to stand next to Elizabeth. "Hi Ellie." I greeted her. I think the sudden lack of adrenaline was making me giddy, otherwise I wouldn't be quite so flippant, even with Will and Lawrence coming to rescue us. I wondered whether I would get sent to the island, or if I'd be considered part of the crew.

Pintel circled us with his pistol, seeming to take extra pleasure in poking it in my face. "If any of you so much as thinks the word 'Parley', I'll have your guts for garters." He snarled.

Elizabeth slipped out of the rope that was wrapped loosely around us, more like a warning than a restraint. My mouth formed an 'O' of surprise at how big the explosion was, when the _Interceptor_ blew up. There wasn't that much _Interceptor_ left really. all but one of its masts had been felled, and it was low in the water.

When Elizabeth "attacked" Barbosa (seriously, she fights like a girl in this movie), I watched the railing to see if I could spot Will ahead of time. But, I saw nothing until Will jumped up to defend Elizabeth's honor against the groping pirates.

Jumping down, the blacksmith grabbed a pistol off a nearby table and pointed it at Barbosa. "She goes free."

"What's in your head, boy?" Barbosa asked.

"She goes free." Will repeated.

"Lawrence!" I burst out of the ropes to help my friend climb onto the ship. Of course, I knew he was safe, otherwise I would be injured or dead right along with him. No, I was just worried that he would fall off and drown.

Barbosa snorted and moved closer to Will. "You've only got one shot, and we can't die."

I was amazed that the movie was going along right as before. Apparently, Lawrence and I weren't big enough characters to warrant a detour in plot.

"You can't." Will moved to the edge of the ship and put the pistol to his throat. "I can."

"Who are you?" Barbosa asked.

"Bill Turner's son." I said, before Jack could go into his "distant relation, great singer, eunuch" spiel.

"He's the spittin' image of Bootstrap Bill!" Pintel said, and I raised my eyebrows. Wasn't that Ragetti's line?

"On my word, do as I say." Will said while still threatening himself. "Or I'll pull this trigger, and be lost to Davy Jones' locker."

"Not very melodramatic, is he?" I whispered to Lawrence, and my curly-haired friend gave me a "be serious" look.

"Name your terms, Mr. Turner." Barbosa said. I noticed that people tended to call Will "Mr. Turner" when they wanted something from him.

"Elizabeth goes free!" Will said immediately, and Lawrence cleared his throat. "As does Laverne." Will added.

"Very well. Anything else?"

I noticed that Jack was pointing at himself. It was obvious that he wanted Will to barter for his freedom, too, but the blacksmith ignored him.

"And the crew! The crew are not to be harmed." Will said.

Barbosa smiled, and I grimaced at the sight of his brown teeth. "Agreed."

* * *

An hour later, we arrived at a very familiar strip of sand with palm trees growing on it: Jack's island, or That God-Forsaken Spit of Land, as he called it.

Elizabeth was sent out onto the plank, and Barbosa did what Barbosa does best. After Elizabeth had been catapulted into the water by Bo'sun (which looked kinda fun, actually), it was my turn.

"Do you think you could stomp on the plank for me, too?" I asked Bo'sun as I passed him, but the giant man just growled at me. I shrugged and paused at the base of the plank to peel off the navy-blue dress. My friends gasped and the pirates gave wolf whistles as I stood there in my undergarments, which would have passed as normal clothes back home. I threw my dress at Barbosa. "Here ya go, Barbie." I said. "A little going-away present."

I did a cannon-ball into the water. It seemed apropriate, though it wasn't half-way as graceful as Jack's swan dive.

Now, I am not a strong swimmer, so my face was barely above the surface of the water by the time I touched bottom. Jack passed me as I struggled to get past the tide-line, but Lawrence helped me up.

"Easy." He cooed. "Don't go to sleep yet. We need to reach the trees first, all right?"

I nodded mutely. I was ready to go to sleep right then and there, despite the waves that lapped at my legs. Lawrence wouldn't let me, though, bless his heart, and forced me to walk to the trees with my arm around his shoulders. Jack and Elizabeth had gone to argue over the rum cache, so we were completely alone as he leaned me up against a palm tree, and I drifted off into slumberland.

* * *

- Lawrence

I was almost certain that my face turned the bright scarlet of embarrassment when Laverne removed her dress in order to swim to the island, and I was afraid that I would have to save her again before we reached it. But, she managed to make it to the beach... barely. I had to almost drag her to the closest palm tree, and she fell asleep as soon as her head met the trunk.

I could hear Jack and Miss Swann off somewhere, arguing about saving Will. I didn't really care. Removing my coat, I laid it over Laverne's sleeping form, then went to stand guard over her. True, I couldn't fight with a sword, but I could still knock the block off a man with my fists. I watched Jack approach through the trees, and he shoved a bottle of rum into my hands.

"What's this?" I asked. Of course, I knew what it was, but I wanted to know why he was trying to get me drunk. My uncle had been a drunk, and I didn't really fancy becoming like him.

"It's rum!" Jack said. "Don't you know rum when you see it?" I rolled my eyes. Obviously, he hadn't understood the question, but I didn't bother to explain myself.

Miss Swann came over and looked at Laverne with concern. "Is she all right?" She asked.

"I think so." Actually, I knew so, since I would be feeling tired too if it were due to a head injury or something of that nature. "I think she just tired herself out with that swim."

I handed my bottle to Miss Swann, who already had one in her other hand, and wondered if I could perhaps collect some of coconuts from the trees. When Laverne woke up, she would hopefully not want to partake in the rum drinking, so I decided to give it a go. Choosing a particularly fruitful-looking specimen, I leaped at it. I managed to wrap my arms and legs around the trunk without hurting myself, but hauling myself up the tree would be impossible from this position, so I allowed myself to fall back to the grass.

"You're never gonna make it, mate." Jack called, from where he was lounging on the sand. "I've been here before remember?"

"Yes, well, I refuse to touch your vile drink, and until Laverne wakes up I have nothing to occupy my time." I informed him.

"Just make sure you find someplace private when you 'occupy your time'." Jack grinned and I stared at him, enraged that he would even suggest something like that. But, then I remembered Tortuga, and my expression burned down to a glower.

"That is not what I meant, and you know it!"

"I know no such thing, mate. If you wish to ravish your female friend go right ahead. I do it all the time."

"Like when you ravished Scarlet and Giselle back in Tortuga?"

Jack grimaced. Apparently, I had found a flaw in his argument. "I have no wish to 'ravish' any woman, unless she is wearing my wedding ring." I said.

"Don't know what you're missin' mate."

"You're disgusting."

I turned my back on him, and sat down next to Laverne. As if sensing my presence, her eyes fluttered open, and I realized for the first time that they were blue.

"Hey, Lawrence." She yawned. "What's up?"

* * *

- Laverne

While Elizabeth went about getting Jack drunk, Lawrence and I took walks around... and around... and around the island. I'm tellin' ya, I've seen houses bigger than this island, it was so tiny. We tried our hand at coconut-collecting, but we didn't have any more luck than Lawrence had the first time. Finally, we decided to just sit out on a sand dune when Jack and Elizabeth started singing drunkenly.

"You know," Lawrence began, "there is an awful lot I don't know about you."

"Ditto."

"What?"

"Ditto. It means 'same here'."

"Ah. I see."

"Can I ask you something Lawrence?" I asked, moving in front of him so that I blocked his path. "Did you come to rescue me because you were worried about me, or because of our curse?"

I watched as his face went through a series of expressions. First was shock, presumably over the fact that I would even ask that question; then there was hurt that I didn't trust him, and finally guilt.

"I admit that the curse was a small part of the reason." He said. "After all, no-one is without a sense of self-preservation. However, I also believe that I might have... feelings for you. It may only be an over-protective sense of loyalty, but I'm not certain."

"But Lawrence, you only knew me a day before I was taken by Barbosa." I pointed out.

"I know. I've had these feelings ever since I first saved you from drowning. At first, I thought I might have developed a protective instinct about you, but now I think it might go farther than that."

"Why?"

"I struck Will when he questioned my commitment to you."

"Really? Wow." He had hit Will over me? He was only slightly taller than I was, with skinny arms and legs. Not really fighter material. I had only known him a day, but I already knew that he had a tendency towards timidity and that to lash out at someone took guts for him. Without thinking, I leaned up and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Lawrence looked like he had been struck by lightning.

"A hero ought to be rewarded, shouldn't he?" I said, and was rewarded myself by the sight of his smile. It was a very nice, chaste smile. An image of Jack's charming, seductive grin popped into my head, but I greatly prefered Lawrence's sweet, gentle one. Now I knew why Elizabeth chose Will over Jack.

Speaking of Jack, I realized we had reached the edge of his island. However, the God-Forsaken Spit of Land was so small that we could still see the bonfire in the distance, and faintly hear Jack and Elizabeth singing drunkenly.

"Ya know, we might want to stay over here." I suggested. "Elizabeth is planning on burning all the rum in the morning, and I want no part in the blame."

"Hmm." I looked at him, and was surprised to see a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

"Let me guess. You're gonna go help her, right?" I laughed and pulled him down onto the sand next to me. He seemed a bit uncomfortable, probably because I was still in my undergarments, but allowed me to skooch up next to him so that my right thigh was pressed up against his left one.

"Where are you from?" Lawrence asked, and I stiffened.

"Oh, here and there. My brother and I travel around a lot." It wasn't a lie. I had no idea why, but Tom and I had stayed in Lowdown longer than we had stayed anywhere else. Normally, we were gone in a week, but Lowdown had lasted a month.

"Your brother?"

I nodded "Tom. Ever since our parents died, he's been the one looking out for me." I noticed that the singing had stopped and pounced on the opportunity to change the subject. "Sounds like Elizabeth finally knocked Jack out with all that drinking. Better go if you wanna help her burn the rum."

Lawrence looked like he wanted to stay here and ask more questions, but just shook his head and climbed to his feet. "Call me if you want to talk." He said, before walking off in the direction of the bonfire.

I sighed, and lay down flat on the sand. The air was cold this far from the bonfire, but I didn't care. As I stared up at the blanket of stars, I suddenly felt very homesick. Not for Lowdown, of course, since the only person who would care about my absence was dear Mrs. Adams, but for my brother Tom. Home had always been where Tom and I were together.

Watching the stars twinkle above me, I fell asleep.

* * *

- Lawrence

I had not wanted to leave Laverne in her moment of distress, but the invitation to go burn rum with Elizabeth had been an obvious dismissal. As I made my way across the shifting sand, I thought about the longing in her voice when she spoke of Tom and my heart ached for her.

Elizabeth had already set the trees on fire, and gave a yelp of surprise when I tapped her shoulder. "Lawrence!" She gasped. "What are you doing here?" She glanced at Jack, who was asleep on the sand, and I knew she feared that I was going to wake him.

"I've come to burn some rum." I said, as if quoting Shakespeare.

"The cache of rum is over here." Elizabeth threw the keg of rum she was holding onto the fire, then led me to a trap door in the middle of a palm tree grove. Fetching a crate of rum, we started disposing of the devil drink...

Until Jack awoke hours later and began shouting at us to stop. I backed away, allowing Miss Swann to deal with the hung-over buccaneer.

"What are you doing?" Jack sounded alarmed, as if it were his prized hat we were burning, instead of some bottles of rum. "You burned all the food, the shade... the rum!"

"Yes! The rum is gone."

"But why is the rum gone?"

"One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels..."

"Hear, hear!" I cheered, and pretended to be engrossed in my fingernails when they both glared at me.

"Two," Miss Swann continued, "That signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire Royal Navy is out looking for me. Do you really think they'll fail to see that?"

"But... why is the rum gone?" Jack's mind was clearly a river, in that it only flowed one way, and I decided to take a walk.

I wandered out into the sand dunes, though I was a ways away from where Laverne lay, and allowed to sun to warm my body. I noticed Jack stalk past, and followed him.

"'Must have been terrible for you Jack'." He said in an amusing falsetto. "'Must have been terrible'. Well, it BLOODY IS NOW!" He spun around at this point, apparently yelling the words at Miss Swann.

I shook my head in amusement, and was just about to return to the shade of the remaining trees, when a sudden pain flared in my ribs. My eyes and mouth opened wide as I tried to catch my breath. Staggering like the loser of a fisticuffs match, I clutched my bruised ribs and made my unsteady way over the sand dune.

Jack and Laverne were on the ground. Laverne was holding her ribs, and glaring daggers at the drunken pirate.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Jack tripped over me." Laverne said. Then she pointed out at the horizon. "And it looks like we have company."

Jack followed Laverne's finger and scowled.

"There'll be no livin' with 'er after this."


	16. Tom

- Laverne

"But we have to save Will!"

I rolled my eyes. I hadn't realized that Elizabeth was such a whiner in this movie. I turned to look at Jack and Lawrence, who were standing with Mullroy and Murtogg. I stepped aside as Jack rushed past me to present his proposition to the Commodore, and I pulled Lawrence to stand next to me. M&M followed Jack, who was apparently seen as a bigger threat.

"The pearl was listing near the scuppers after the battle. It's very unlikely that she'd be able to make good time." Jack said. His voice became more persuasive. "Think about it. The _Black Pearl_. The last real pirate threat in the Caribbean, mate. How can you pass that up, eh?"

"By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself." Norrington said coldly, before turning and walking away. Elizabeth, of course, did her "I'll marry you if you save Will" bit, but I was quickly distracted by a tall, muscular sailor. He looked just like...

"Tom?" I called out, and the sailor turned. It **_was _**Tom! His face was more tanned, and he was dressed in a navy uniform, but it was definitely my brother. I had wished on a star, and it had come true! Jiminy Cricket, eat your heart out.

"Laverne?" Tom dropped the mop he had been utilizing, and pulled me into a bear hug. "Verne! What are you doing here? I mean, I'm over-joyed to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I giggled, wiping away happy tears. I had heard of people shedding tears of joy, but it had never happened to me before now.

"Laverne?" Lawrence came up behind me. "Is this your brother?"

"Oh! Yeah. Lawrence Martin, this is my brother Tom. Tom, this is my friend Lawrence Martin." I said, and the two men shook hands, with Tom's enormous one enveloping Lawrence's average-sized one.

"Mr. Audrium! I trust you have good reason for your inappropriate behavior toward this woman?" Norrington's voice sounded from behind us. Before Tom could answer, I spun around and held out my hand for him to shake.

"Laverne Audrium. Tom's sister." I introduced myself, and I could sense my brother grinning behind me. "You might know me as the addle-brained girl you arrested in the blacksmith's shop."

"Indeed." Norrington treated me to one of his signature cold stares, then turned to Lawrence. "Mr. Martin, you are to aid Mr. Sparrow in leading us to Isla de la Muerta."

"And then contemplate all possible meanings of the phrase 'silent as the grave'. Yeah, yeah we know." I said, getting raised eyebrows from all three of the men. "Didn't think I was listening, did ya?"

"Mr. Audrium, I am putting your sister in your care." Norrington said, ignoring that last bit. "See that she is settled in one of the extra cabins, and that she stays there." Tom nodded before leading me away. I noticed Lawrence giving me a worried look, and gave him a reassuring smile.

As soon as we were safely inside an empty cabin, Tom dropped the soldier bit. "For cryin' out loud Verne! What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story. I got here in a magic puddle. I was there when Port Royal was invaded, and got seasick on the _Black Pearl_. I saw when Will rescued Elizabeth and was locked in the _Pearl'_s brig with Jack. I saw the _Interceptor_ blow up. I swam to Jack's Island, and, by the way, he and Elizabeth have terrible singing voices when they're drunk. So what happened to you?"

"My time wasn't half as exciting as yours." Tom admitted. "I went to bed one night, and woke up in Navy uniform, getting shouted at for falling asleep on the job. I was there when Jack and Will stole the _Interceptor_, but other than that I was under the command of Norry the Grump."

I laughed. That was definately my new nickname for Norrington. But then I remembered one other thing that I had to tell my brother.

"Tom..." I took one of his huge hands in my own tiny ones. "I'm cursed too."

Tom looked shocked. "Not the whole 'you know nothing of hell' thing?" He squeaked. He was a man that made Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a wimp, so it was always strange when his voice rose a few octaves out of fear.

"No, no. I'm not a member of the Skeleton Crew." I assured him, and he sighed with relief. "No. The curse seems to link me to Lawrence."

"You're not saying you're married are you?" Tom asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"No! What I mean by linked, is that whenever he gets hurt, so do I, and visa versa."

Tom covered his eyes. "If it's not one thing, it's another." He groaned. Running his hands through his hair, he stood up. "Okay. Here's the plan..."


	17. Battle of the skeletons

- Lawrence.

I sat behind Jack in an otherwise-empty longboat. We had been sent ahead to negotiate Barbosa into an ambush, and Jack was giving me "pointers", as Laverne calls them, on how to behave when we reach the cave.

"Now, when we get inside, I want you to hide somewhere until I give the signal. All right?"

I nodded. I had been worried that Jack would force me to take part in this ploy, and was relieved that he just wanted me to stay out of the way. We pulled up the boat, and I hid behind a pile of gold while Jack began pushing his way through the crowd of pirates. Barbosa had begun to make a speech, but stopped when he saw Jack.

From that point, their words were too quiet for me to hear from my position. However, I could tell from their faces that Will was getting angry, and Barbosa was confused. The other pirates were looking at Jack with expressions that varied from 'he's came back from the grave' to 'how the hell do you kill this annoying pest?'. I managed to hear Barbosa say "Shut up! You're next." but I remained hidden, knowing that Jack could talk himself out of most any situation. Barbosa put the knife to Will's throat, then rolled his eyes and took it away again.

I smiled. Jack had Barbosa right where he wanted him. The eccentric pirate's next words caused a stir in the crowd, and I knew he had told them about the _Dauntless_. I sighed, and shifted a little. Thankfully, no-one seemed to notice the clink of gold coins. Jack was now beside Barbosa on the pile of gold, and the un-dead captain actually looked interested. And I could see on Will's face that he had understood the signals Jack had been sending him.

Barbosa and Jack shook hands, and the latter turned to the crew.

"All hands to the boats!" He ordered, getting a dirty look from Barbosa. "Apologies. You give the orders." Jack said, bowing slightly in a submissive manner.

"Gents... take a walk!" Barbosa said, and I had to hide inside a nearby chest as most of the pirates trooped past.

For all of you who have never hidden inside a chest: Never close the lid completely, or the latch might come down and then you will be locked inside. The way I was now.

Now, I have never liked being trapped in dark places, ever since Samuel Tyler locked me in a barrel and threw me in the ocean. Fortunately, I was picked up by a ship on its way back to port, but because of that experience, I lose all sense whenever I am confined in a dark space. This chest was no exception.

I began to bang on the lid of the chest, all thoughts of murderous un-dead pirates vacant from my mind. I was told I screamed, too, but I don't remember it. Suddenly, the lid flew open and I nearly got my nose cut off by Will's blade. He was fighting off three of Barbosa's men, and one of their blades must have cut through the latch.

Snatching up a handful of gold coins, I threw them at one of the pirates, causing him... it... him to fall back in surprise. Losing interest in Will, the pirate then came after me. Realizing that I needed a weapon, I turned and scurried across the piles of gold in search of something suitable. I noticed Jack and Barbosa, their swords flashing as they danced their way across the cave, but I was too busy blocking my own foe's blade with a silver platter to pay them any mind.

I threw the plate at the pirate, making him stumble back into the moonlight. Apparently, these fellas are used to their skeletal form frightening people, because he roared at me like a yeti.

I stuffed a gold statuette into his mouth.

* * *

- Laverne

I may have mentioned before that Tom makes Arnold Schwarzenegger look wimpy, but that by no means makes him slow. Tom got the way he was because a) our dad was 6' 9" and Tom inherited his height, and b) because he loves any kind of physical sport. That includes swimming and rock climbing, both of which were crucial at this moment. Of course, since we're at opposite ends of the scale when it comes to size, he was able to carry me on his back as easily as you would an empty backpack.

When no-one was looking, he swung out onto the hull of the ship. I felt like a baby chimp on it's mother's back as he moved swiftly along the tiny ledge that ran around the outside of the ship. Finally, we stopped outside the cabin where Elizabeth was incarcerated. I could hear Governor Swann talking to her through the door, and knocked gently on the window. A second later, Elizabeth's face appeared and her eyes widened at the sight of us.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a stage whisper. "And who is that?"

"Elizabeth, Tom. Tom, Elizabeth." I grabbed her arm. "Now come on, are we getting to the _Black Pearl _or not?"

"Wait a second, how did you know I was going to the _Black Pearl_?"

"You don't seem the type to sit around on your fanny." Tom said. "And don't you know that knotted sheets are notorious for coming undone?"

"That only happens when you try it at three-hundred pounds, Baloo." I said, poking his rock-hard stomach muscles.

Elizabeth had Tom carry us down to a rowboat floating next to the _Dauntless_. Don't ask me where she got it. Fortunately, sculling was another sport that Tom was fond of, so we let him do the rowing.

* * *

The _Black Pearl _was even creepier at night than it was in the day. Of course, I knew this, since they attacked Port Royal during the night, but now it seemed even creepier. Which was silly, since there were only two pirates and an un-dead monkey on board. Elizabeth didn't have to do all the climbing she did in the movie, since Tom was here to carry us up.

Jack the monkey of course tried to scare Elizabeth again, but she grabbed him and threw him into the water, alerting the guards to our presence. Tom and I glared at her.

"Thanks a lot, Lizzie." I huffed as we raced down the stairs. Tom pulled us into a side room, and the two skeleton men ran past onto the deck, hollering like a couple of Tarzans.

"It's Elizabeth!" Gibbs gasped when we got to the brig.

"What am I, chopped liver?" I demanded, and Gibbs gave me a queer look. "Laverne? Lawrence's girl?" I said, and Gibbs nodded in rememberance before his eyes widened at the sight of Tom. "And this is my brother, Tom."

"Why is he dressed in a navy uniform?" Gibbs asked.

"Because I just quit the _Dauntless_." Tom said.

"I can't find the keys!" Elizabeth said, getting groans from many of the crew.

"Stand aside, Princess." I said. "Anybody got a knife?"

Tom and I taught ourselves how to pick locks when we first forgot our keys on a winter day. Tom never really got the hang of it, probably because his fingers are so big, but I'm a regular expert at it. Picking an ancient lock with a dagger was a bit of a challenge, however, and took longer than I expected.

"Finally." I sighed as the door swung open.

* * *

- Lawrence

I was still fighting that same pirate, whom I have nicknamed Bob, just to clarify between my pirate and Will's pirates. I'm fairly certain that if our battle was done onstage, without any risk of injury, it would have seemed comical, with my utilizing anything that came to hand as a weapon. This included the golden bowl that I had thrust over his head and was now drumming on with a pair of gold bars.

I saw Will staring at something, and turned to see Jack Sparrow standing in a patch of moonlight, his body transformed into an un-dead skeleton. In my opinion he still looked down-right handsome compared to the other skeletal pirates. He was twiddling a piece of aztec gold between his bony fingers, and might of been smirking but it was a little hard to tell. A sword handle was protruding from his chest.

I yelped as Bob pulled the bowl off his head and came after me again. I suddenly wished I knew how to swordfight, though I knew it would do no good against men who couldn't die. My point was proven by Will, who tricked his two pirates into stabbing each other with their swords, only to have them pull them back out and chase after him again.

Bob lit a bomb and threw it at me and Will. We managed to leap aside, but was still showered with flying pieces of gold and jewels.

"I'm gonna teach you the meanin' of pain." Bob growled.

"You like pain?" Elizabeth asked, and struck him in the face with a pole. "Try wearing a corset."

"Lawrence!" Laverne called, running over to help me up. "Are you okay? Well, of course you're okay. That's a silly thing to ask."

"Whose side is Jack on?" Elizabeth asked, while staring at the skeletal version of Jack Sparrow.

"At the moment?" Will asked.

"I didn't know Johnny Depp played Jack Skellington." Laverne whipered to Tom, and they both snickered.

"What?" I asked, utterly confused by her statement.

"Inside joke." She said. "It's a little hard to explain."

One of the pirates, I'll call him Jeremy, tried to stab Laverne in the back, but Will thust his pole through Bob and the other pirate and into Jeremy's rib cage. The three skeletons were now linked together, so that they could not pull out the pole without ripping the ribs out of one of them. Tom grabbed Bob by what remained of his shirt, and held him while Will stuffed a bomb into his ribcage.

"No-one messes with my sister." Tom snarled, and shoved the hapless trio into the shadows.

Bob shuffled his clothes, trying to get to the bomb. "No fair." He whispered, and I closed my eyes as the three of them exploded.

"That's gross." Laverne commented.

* * *

- Laverne.

Lawrence, Tom and I didn't have parts in the whole "you waisted your shot", "he didn't waist it" scene, so we just stayed in the background and watched. Of course, we didn't get the whole "did Barbosa shoot Elizabeth?" scare that people watching the movie got, but Tom and I decided now wasn't the best time to comment on that.

After that, all we had to do was wait around for Elizabeth and Will to finish their lovey-dovey scene. While Jack sifted through the mountains of gold in search of things he might like, which of course included a crown, Lawrence and I decided to have a talk, and Tom decided to make himself scarce so that we could have our talk.

Lawrence watched Tom wander off to do whatever it was he was going to do. "So did you come to help because you were worried about me, or because of our curse?" He asked, echoing my words back on Jack's Island.

"Well, I have to admit that the curse was a bit of the reason why I came." I said. I lounged back on a pile of gold, but then sat up again because it wasn't very comfortable. "After all, no-one is without a sense of self-preservation. And I really did not want to be on the _Dauntless _when the Skeleton Crew attacked, but most of it was concern for you, yeah."

"Do you think we'll ever be able to lift the curse and be able to rescue each other without our motives being questioned?" Lawrence asked.

"I have no idea." I replied truthfully. "After all, we don't even know why we're under this curse in the first place." I looked at him. His grey eyes were downcast. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just thinking. If I'm hung for piracy, I don't want you to have to suffer along with me."

I stared at him. He didn't care if he got hurt or not, he just wanted to make sure I was safe. And he hadn't even known me that long. There weren't a lot of people like that.

"Well... we could always try the story-book antidote." I said, inching closer to him.

"Story-book antidote?" Lawrence asked, going red in the face with embarrassment.

"Yeah, you know... a kiss?"

"I- I- I don't know about that." Lawrence said. "I'm not supposed to kiss a woman unless I've courted her first."

"Come on, it's worth a shot." I grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him into a kiss.

Nothing happened.

"Well, scratch that option." I muttered, releasing Lawrence so that he fell back onto the pile of gold in a kind of stupor.

"Lawrence! Laverne! We're leaving!" Will called to us, and we passed the message on to Tom before following him to the longboat.

On the way back to the _Dauntless_, I fell asleep with my head on Lawrence's shoulder.


	18. Ending the curse

- Laverne

The next morning, before dawn, Lawrence and I met on the docks. I was dressed in trousers, and a baggy, white shirt. My red hair had been tied back in a loose ponytail and I once again wore a pair of Lawrence's shoes (since I had left the other pair on Jack's Island). I was going to go join Jack's crew, while Lawrence would stay here and keep an eye on Will and Elizabeth. This was for two reasons: one, if I stayed here, I would be forced to wear a corset, one of those nasty dresses, and high-heeled shoes; and two, if I stayed here I would most likely be locked in a cell with Elizabeth and have to listen to her grouse.

"You sure you want to do this?" Lawrence asked.

"Are you..." I didn't get a chance to finish, because his indignant glare made me giggle. "Yes, I'm sure."

"You're an unusual woman. You know that, don't you?"

"Is that a tactful way of saying I'm ugly?"

"Of course not!" Lawrence looked shocked that I would ask that, until he realized I was teasing him. "You remained calm amongst a crew of un-dead skeletons, you picked a lock with a dagger, and you never once let fear get the best of you. There aren't many woman who can claim a record like that."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" I asked.

"I... I think I might be in love with you." Lawrence admitted, and watched anxiously as my jaw hit the floor.

Did I love him? _"'Course you do, girl!" _A voice in my head yelled at me. _"If you didn't, then you wouldn't have kissed him! twice!" _

"I think I love you too." I whispered. Ack! We were worse than Will and Elizabeth.

"Care to try the story-book antidote again?" Lawrence asked.

I chose to answer him by pressing my lips to his.

My hair stood on end, and I swear that I saw beams of light erupt from Lawrence's eyes and mouth, just like in Beauty and the Beast. My eyeballs and throat burned, so I guessed that I looked the same. It was a good thing we were in a secluded spot, because otherwise we'd be drawing a lot of attention.

Finally, whatever-it-was ended, and we collapsed to the ground. Lawrence's curls were drenched in sweat, and he was panting heavily. I probably looked worse than he did.

"What... was that?" I asked, then hurried to the edge of the dock and began tossing my cookies into the water.

"I think that was the end of the curse." Lawrence replied in a hoarse whisper. "Does this change our plans?"

"No." I told him. "It just lowers the stress levels."

* * *

- Lawrence

I wished that Laverne, or "Verne" as she now insisted I call her, had decided to stay behind in Port Royal, especially now that our curse was finally lifted, but she still wanted to go on the _Black Pearl_.

Now, I stood beside Will and waited for the signal. I spotted a splash of blue feathers, sitting atop a flag pole, and pointed it out to Will. While he moved to talk to Elizabeth (and to profess his un-dying love for her, no doubt), I moved as close to the hang-man's platform as I could without drawing attention to myself.

I thought about how far I had come. Just one week ago, I had been an unhappy baker's apprentice, waisting time on the docks and getting shouted at for doing so. Since then I have helped spring a man from jail, helped commandeer a vessel, punched a man, been marooned on an island, did battle with an un-dead sailor and fallen in love. Now I was going to help stop the execution of an infamous pirate... who also happened to be my friend.

Will gave me the signal, and I shouted at the top of my voice: "Everybody move!"

A path formed in between me and Will, and I stepped aside to allow him access. Will threw his sword, and it buried itself in the trapdoor just as Jack fell through, giving him a flimsy platform to stand on. I leaped up onto the platform and severed the rope, allowing Jack to drop, and knocking the executioner, to the ground in the process.

I saw Elizabeth pretend to faint, and grinned. She was buying us time. I jumped down from the platform and joined Jack and Will in their fight to get to the balcony. Of course, I had no sword, and couldn't use one even if I did, but I did manage to punch out several guards before we were utterly surrounded by bayonet tips.

"I thought we might have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt." Commodore Norrington said. "But not from you."

"On our return to Port Royal, I granted you clemency." Governor Swann said. "And this is how you two thank me? By throwing in your lot with him? He's a pirate."

"And a good man." Will said defiantly. I noticed Jack pointing to himself and mouthing "that's me", and I slapped his hand down. "If all Lawrence and I have achieved here is that the hangman earns three pairs of boots, instead of one, then so be it. At least or conciences will be clear."

Norrington raised his blade to Will's throat. "You forget your place Turner." He ground out.

"It's right here..." Will said.

"Between you and Jack." I finished. It was a bad habit I picked up from Verne.

Elizabeth came to stand beside Will. "As is mine." She said.

"Elizabeth." Governor Swann sounded shocked. "Lower your weapons." When the soldiers hesitated, he snapped. "For goodness sake! Put them down!"

"So this is where your heart truly lies, then?" Norrington asked, sounding ready to cry.

Elizabeth nodded. "It is."

I knew that Jack had seen Cotton's parrot when he suddenly stood up and began swaggering around. "Well, I'm actually feeling pretty good about all this." He said. He leaned in towards the Governor, and I had to stop myself from laughing at the older man's expression. "I think we've all arrived at a very special place, eh?" He said, and the Governor wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Spiritually... ecumenically... grammatically..." He moved on to Norrington. "I want you to know that I was rooting for you." He wagged his finger. "Know that."

Jack looked ready to walk away, but then turned back to Elizabeth. "Elizabeth..." When said lady turned to look at him, he put on a puppy-dog expression. "It would never have worked out between us, Darling. I'm sorry." Elizabeth gave him a look that was partly amused partly annoyance. Jack then turned to Will. "Will... nice hat."

That was it. I burst out laughing, and, after a moment, Will and Elizabeth joined me.

"Ladies and gentlemen..." Jack said over our merriment. "You will always remember this as the day that..." At that moment, he tripped over the battlement and fell into the sea below. We stopped laughing and ran to see if he was all right.


	19. Adieu

- Laverne

I saw Jack fall from the cliff and hit the water like a rag doll. I think I discovered at least a dozen impatient twitches as I waited for him to swim from the cliff all the way to the ship. When he finally did reach the Black Pearl, I tossed him a rope and watched as the men hauled him into the air like a dripping-wet pinata.

After Anna-Maria handed over the captaincy to him, I wandered over and his eyes widened.

"Laverne! What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded.

"She's joined the crew, Captain." Gibbs supplied. "So's her brother, Tom."

Jack looked at Tom, who was leaning against the railing, then looked at me. "Not much of a family resemblance." He muttered. Then he seemed to notice that everyone was staring at him. "On deck you scaberous dogs!" He barked and began shouting orders. Tom and the other deckhands scurried off, but I remained. "Well? What do you want?" Jack asked.

"I can't do the sails." I admitted. "I'm scared of heights. If I go higher than five feet I freeze up and can't move to save my life."

Jack thought about this. "Can you cook? Clean? Sew?" He asked.

"If nothing else, I can scrub the floor and sew." I said.

"Then get to it! Gibbs will show you what to do."

I ran off to find the first mate, but paused by the rail to blow a kiss back at Port Royal.

Until the next movie... adieu, Lawrence. My love goes with you.


End file.
